Sunday, August 29, 2010
Musharraf wooing PML-Q, PPP-Patriots, MQM, Pagara
ISLAMABAD: Former President General (retd) Pervez Musharraf has sought permission of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for launching a new political party, the “All Pakistan Muslim League” (APML) from London on October 1.
A secret list of 52 top politicians of both the PML-Q and the PPP-Patriots has now been prepared, who would announce to join this new party to give a boost to General (retd) Pervez Musharraf before launching the party.
One of his loyalists, Barrister Saif has submitted relevant documents to the ECP on behalf of General (retd) Musharraf to get the new party registered. The registration of the party is now pending with the ECP where progress on the case is very slow.
Ch Shujaat Hussain and Ch Pervez Elahi will not join the new party yet in the first phase. The sources said that the Chaudhrys sent a message to General (retd) Musharraf that because of the Bank of Punjab case, they did not want to annoy Asif Ali Zardari and Shahbaz Sharif.
Top inside political sources have claimed that Pir Pagara and the MQM are being given top priority in the new political set-up as General (retd) Musharraf is said to have completed his homework in the last six months after meeting his comrades in Dubai and London.
The sources said that General (retd) Musharraf had invited his loyalists to a convention in London on October 1, when he would launch the “All Pakistan Muslim League” (APML). A large number of media persons are also being invited by him to cover the event from London where he would also give interviews to journalists.
The sources said that Barrister Saif was getting the party registered and afterwards he would invite Pervez Musharraf to become its president. The sources said now General (retd) Musharraf was waiting for issuance of NoC for his new party as the rest of the arrangements were complete.
When contacted by The News, Advocate Fawad Hussain Chaudhry, who is a close aide of General (retd) Musharraf, confirmed the launching of the political party. He also confirmed that Barrister Saif was getting the party registered with the ECP. But, he said that the NoC was not being issued because the ECP had not the required number of members right now.
Meanwhile, sources said that after long discussions with his political lieutenants in Dubai and London, a new political strategy was worked out to launch General (retd) Musahrraf in active politics amid fast erosion of credibility of corrupt politicians in the ranks of the PPP and the PML-N as their governments had terribly failed to deliver despite tall claims.
The sources said that after getting disappointed from Chaudhrys of Gujrat, now General (retd) Musahrraf had replaced them with Pir of Pagara, who was being given the task to bring all the like-minded politicians in the party.
According to the new plan, the All Pakistan Muslim League would have an alliance with the MQM after joining Pir Pagara who would arrange a party convention in Karachi where top leaders of the PML-Q and other like-minded politicians would participate.
As the second phase of his strategy, General Pervez Musharaf is getting ready to write long articles on four important steps he took during his government and was always criticised. He is planning to write articles and even give interviews on the Lal Masjid operation, the killing of Akbar Bugti, November 3 emergency and issuance of the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) to reply to his critics. Likewise, he would wait for the reaction of the public over his explanations and interviews before making his mind to return to Pakistan to join active politics.
Musharraf wooing PML-Q, PPP-Patriots, MQM, Pagara