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Tuesday, September 29, 2009, Shawwal 09, 1430

Qayyum, Sikander agree to reunite MC factions

Hameed Shaheen

Rawalpindi—The 9-month long split in Muslim Conference (MC) that shocked it into two mutually fiercely contending factions in AJK seems now certain to a negotiated heal-up soon with ‘some structural re-adjustments’ at the party plane in Azad Kashmir.

Explicit indications to the party reunification were available to Pakistan Observer here on Monday afternoon following a crucial meeting which took place at Mujahid Manzil between ex-Presidents/Premiers of AJK, Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan and Sardar Sikander Hayat Khan. Present on the respective sides were Leader of Opposition in AJK Assembly Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan, also president of MC (A), and Member Kashmir Council Sardar Farooque Sikander.

The quartet devoted a lengthy duration of their serious discussion after exchanging formal social pleasantries. Sardar Sikander inquired after the health of Sardar Qayyum who was relieved from MH Rawalpindi a month ago after heart treatment.

The meeting which lasted for over two hours is being described as an ‘exhaustive exercise’ at a ‘crucial time’ for both the factions to seek out an ultimate goal of reunification of the two factions. One faction led by MLA Raja Farooque Haider (MC-F) is a coalition partner in the AJK Government. The other faction is led by Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan as Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly. But the basic ideology of their party, despite fierce in-fighting not new to Muslim Conference since its founding in 1932, goads them both to reunite.

A press release faxed to the media after meeting of the elders simply said that in the meeting the latest aspects of the Kashmir dispute, prevalent political situation in AJK and a detailed discussion on reuniting the Muslim Conference factions were the core topics. But inside source told the Pakistan Observer that both sides agreed to merge their factions into the same old party and to take forward the process of intensive discussion soon another meeting would be held at the senior level. Meanwhile, the parliamentary groups of both the factions have moved for a session of the AJK Assembly, the same source added.

These overtures, observers believe, can dampen the calls for setting up of PML-N in AJK. Only a few days back the ex-Premier Sardar Sikander Hayat Khan had a meeting with the senior PML-N leader Raja Zafarul Haq, the task master of AJK affairs, in Islamabad. But no final word was let out after their meeting as to the ‘when and how’ of any future formal institutional presence of PML-N in AJK.
 

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