Former PML-Q parliamentarians defecting from party

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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This not a good news for Mushrrafs lota league. Hopefully they will run at independent or join other parties.

http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\12\18\story_18-12-2007_pg7_34

Former PML-Q parliamentarians defecting from party

By Irfan Ghauri and Muhammad Bilal

ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) parliamentarians are defecting from the party due to differences with PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, party sources told DailyTimes.

The sources said that some prominent politicians had also defected from the party because they were denied party tickets to contest the general elections.

President Pervez Musharraf has authorised the Chaudhry cousins of Gujrat to award party tickets to get maximum seats - especially from Punjab – in the elections.

The sources said that senior party leaders, who were very close to Musharraf, are deserting the party. These leaders worked as ministers or parliamentary secretaries in the last government.

Among former federal ministers, Zahid Hamid (law and justice) and Tahir Iqbal (Kashmir affairs) have defected to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) whereas Jehangir Khan Tareen (industries) joined the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional. They said that they left the party after differences with the Chaudhrys.

Former parliamentarians Hina Rabbani Khar and Malik Amin Aslam, who had a good rapport with Musharraf and former premier Shaukat Aziz, have also defected from the PML-Q.

Hina has joined the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) while Aslam has vowed to contest the polls as an independent candidate.

Among former parliamentary secretaries, Tanvir Hussain Syed (defence) and Farooq Amjad Mir (law and justice) have developed differences with the PML-Q.

Syed is now affiliated with the PML-F, and says his outspoken style was not acceptable to the PML-Q leadership.

“I always opposed US policies in parliament, and publicly opposed military operations in Swat and other tribal areas,” he told Daily Times.

Mir also repeatedly criticised the decisions of the Chaudhrys in parliament.

Mir said his exclusion from the PML-Q was due to his criticism of the Chaudhrys. “The Chaudhrys conveyed me messages to stop blaming them,” he said.

Mir said that he had not applied for a PML-Q ticket because contesting the polls from the PML-Q’s platform would be an unwise decision until the Chaudhrys were at the helm.

Ali Hassan Gillani, Akhtar Khan Kanju, Shahzadi Umerzadi Tiwana, Bilal Ijaz Virk and
Rai Azizullah Khan have also left the party.

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Re: Former PML-Q parliamentarians defecting from party

The way PPP; PML (N); PML (Q); and other parties candidates look for pastures new, it will leave MQM as the biggest party. That would be a turn up for the books. :hehe:

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Re: Former PML-Q parliamentarians defecting from party

What difference do these defections make to Musharraff? Were you people not chanting for Musharraff's head when he let BB back in the country under the NRO? So what are you guys saying now? Is he with PML-Q or is he with PPP?

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Re: Former PML-Q parliamentarians defecting from party

Bhaijan, people on GS are confused. The revolution and the ouster of great President Musharaf they expected after March 2007 has not happened. They felt a glimmer of hope when emergency was imposed, but that seems to be passing each day.

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Re: Former PML-Q parliamentarians defecting from party

Aalsi bhai zara president house ka number tou lagana, subha se pait mai guR guR ho rahi hai, zara poocho kambakht ne aaj kya kia hai.

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Re: Former PML-Q parliamentarians defecting from party

That we’ll find out after the election. If there is strong parliament dominated by the opposition he could be ousted and tried for treason which he rightly deserves.

http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\12\18\story_18-12-2007_pg7_20

Musharraf can face tough time from next parliament

ISLAMABAD: President Pervez Musharraf has emerged from six tumultuous weeks of emergency rule with another five-year presidential term but facing fresh threats to his grip on power.

Pakistan will elect a new parliament next month but after ceding control of the army and letting two key political rivals return from exile the US-backed leader will be vulnerable if the next batch of lawmakers opposes him.

Musharraf’s holding the constitution in abeyance on Nov 3 enabled him to purge the Supreme Court of judges who could have terminated his autocratic rule.

But his extra-constitutional actions could leave him open to political attack and even impeachment if the ruling party fares badly at the polls, giving clout to an emboldened opposition that has been sidelined for years because of his total dominance, backed by the powerful military and a rubber-stamp parliament.

Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 coup, is unpopular at home, despised by many liberals who once supported him. His international standing also has slipped, although he retains US and British backing as an ally in the war on terror.

“He can’t afford an unsympathetic parliament,” said Hasan Askari Rizvi, a political analyst. “If parliament is not subservient to him then you will see a lot of trouble in Pakistan in the months after the elections.”

It has been a torrid year for Musharraf, with a series of political blunders since he first tried to fire the country’s top judge nine months ago. His US-backed campaign against the Taliban and Al Qaeda has backfired and led to an escalation in the Islamic extremism he wants to fight.

A recent poll found that 72 percent of Pakistanis opposed his controversial re-election in October.

However, he remains Pakistan’s most powerful man. His exercise of raw power has shored up his position, and in a sign that he still sees himself as the man pulling the military’s strings, Musharraf stays at Army House in the garrison city of Rawalpindi rather than the presidential residence in Islamabad.

“He’s playing hardball and shown that he does not care about the constitution,” said Rasul Bakhsh Rais, a politics professor at the Lahore University of Management Sciences.

Before lifting the emergency on Saturday, Musharraf doctored the constitution to protect himself from legal action for suspending it - moves endorsed by the newly appointed Supreme Court.

Attorney General Malik Qayyum said the amendments were above board and would require a two-thirds majority in parliament to undo them - the same majority needed to impeach the president. The changes have drawn sharp criticism from the Pakistani press and international rights groups.

A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the vote’s outcome would be critical for Musharraf, with the aftermath another “pulse point” for Pakistan.

Analysts say that unless the election is severely rigged - concerns already voiced by Nawaz and Benazir - none of the three major parties will likely win an outright majority in the 342-seat National Assembly.

Most expect the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) party that dominated the last assemblies or Benazir’s Pakistan People’s Party to win, followed by Nawaz’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. If the PML-Q garners enough votes, it could remake the current coalition, bolstered by support from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).

Nawaz has drawn large crowds while campaigning in his native Punjab. His PML-N could capitalise if the PML-Q suffers from its close association with the unpopular president and soaring food prices.

“The wild card is that Nawaz might get more seats than people think,” said analyst Shafqat Mahmood. ap

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Re: Former PML-Q parliamentarians defecting from party

Shamraz, let me get this straight please. The anti-Musharraff camp is relying on the same lotas that supported him during the last five years to eventually oust him? Bhai sahab are you saying that just because these guys are in PPP (which people claim to be in cahoots with Musharraf) you will elect them back to the parliament? So your definition of "thug" and "corrupt" is limited to siding with Musharraff, right?

It is wrong if PML-Q gets these thugs together to form the majority group, it is perfectly ok when BB and NS do the same.

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Re: Former PML-Q parliamentarians defecting from party

Lets see how many votes they get outside of Karachi