Exiled Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League split

ISLAMABAD, FEB 20: Pakistan Muslim League (PML) of exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has split, with a rebel leader taking charge of the party’s powerful Punjab unit.

The split, widely expected since Sharif was exiled to Saudi Arabia last year, was formalised at a general council meeting convened by rebels at the party’s headquarters in Lahore yesterday.

Chaudhary Parvez Elahi, a faction leader opposed to Sharif’s leadership, was unanimously elected as chief of PML’s powerful Punjab unit.

The organisers of the meeting said out of the 911 members of the party’s general council, 793 including 163 members of the suspended Parliament and 51 members of the National Assemblies, attended the meeting. A leader from the Nawaz faction, Akram Zaki, termed the meeting as a “flop show and said PML’s Punjab unit President, Zufiqar Khosa, whom the rebels sacked yesterday, continued to be the leader of the Punjab unit.

Khosa, at a press conference held later, charged that military officials forced certain party leaders to attend the rebel meeting. “The PML leaders were told in clear cut options that either support the rebel faction or face corruption charges,” he said.

Sharif’s exile created a turmoil in PML, one of the two major political parties in Pakistan, and caused deep resentment in it, culminating in the split.

Copyright © 2001 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.