Four PML leaders expelled

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, DEC. 3. The Pakistan Muslim League (PML) led by the former Prime Minister, Mr. Nawaz Sharif, has finally expelled the four senior party leaders who raised a banner of revolt against the leadership.

Early last week, the four leaders - former Ministers, Mr. Shujaat Hussain and Muhammad Ejazul Haq, former Governor, Mian Muhammad Azhar, and president of party's labour wing, Mr. Faqir Hussain Bukhari, - were suspended for alleged acts of indiscipline and ugly incidents involving the capture of the party headquarters in the national capital and subsequently in Lahore.

Following pressure from moderates in the party, the Sharif faction had agreed for constitution of a reconciliation committee led by Mr. Raja Zafarul Haq, a senior member. The Committee, however, could not make any headway as both groups continued to trade charges in public.

The rebels have been demanding for several months now replacement of Mr. Sharif as party leader on the plea that with so many cases against him, he cannot be expected to provide the right kind of leadership. Some of the rebels were reportedly in touch with the military government.

When the PML decided last week to become part of the Grand Democratic Alliance, which included the Pakistan People's Party of another former Prime Minister, Ms. Benazir Bhutto, the rebels saw a chance to break ranks with the party.

In his anxiety to jump on to the bandwagon of the GDA, a grouping of Opposition parties that came together weeks before the ouster of Mr. Sharif in the military coup, the former Prime Minister ruffled many a feather within and outside the party.

At least eight of the smaller parties walked out of the GDA questioning the wisdom of admitting a party such as the PML against which they had come together on the platform of the Alliance.

Within the PML, the objection of rebels was to the idea of joining hands with the archrival, PPP. They dubbed it an opportunistic alliance and created a situation where the Sharif faction was left with little option but to expel them from the party.

It is said that Mr. Haq, who headed the reconciliation committee, decided to quit as its convener in protest against the manner in which the rebels were expelled. Significantly, the development could pave the way for takeover of the PML leadership by Mrs. Kulsoom Nawaz, wife of the former Prime Minister.

Ex-Minister turns approver

PTI reports:

In another development, the former Finance Minister, Mr. Ishaq Dar, turned approver against Mr. Sharif and his family members in a money laundering case pending before an accountability court, media reports said.

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Section  : International
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