Haider stays away from Organising Committee maiden meeting; claims Nawaz asked him to supervise its task

 The recently constituted ‘organising committee’ of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) chapter of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) held its maiden meeting on Monday in Islamabad but instead of making it to the get-together, party’s disgruntled former regional president Raja Farooq Haider preferred to be greeted by hundreds of his supporters at Kohala enroute to Muzaffarabad.

The 15-member organising committee, with former secretary general Shah Ghulam Qadir as its head, was constituted by PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif on Dec 10 after dissolving AJK chapter’s entire organisational setup, including overseas bodies.

Haider was among the remaining members who included Chaudhry Tariq Farooq, Chaudhry Muhammad Saeed, Raja Naseer Ahmed Khan, Mushtaq Minhas, Chaudhry Muhammad Aziz, Dr Najeeb Naqi, Ms Noreen Arif, Barrister Iftikhar Ali Gillani, Dr Mustafa Bashir, Raja Muhammad Siddique, Syed Shaukat Shah, Sardar Abdul Khaliq Wasi and Zulfiqar Ali Malik. 

The Monday’s meet at the Bani Gala residence of Qadir was attended by all of them, except Haider who had returned from a long USA and UK tour on Dec 16.

Instead, he drove from Islamabad to Muzaffarabad and was received by a large number of his supporters at Kohala Bridge. However, while speaking to them, he did not make any direct reference to the committee's meeting but did make a claim that Nawaz Sharif had asked him to "stay in the committee and supervise the task assigned to it.”  

On the other hand, Qadir said he did not know as to why Haider had not turned up at the meeting, even though he had fixed Dec 20 in keeping with his and another committee member's travel dates.

He informed that the meeting held in in very cordial atmosphere had renewed allegiance to the narrative of Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif apart from reposing full faith in their leadership.

According to him,  it had been resolved that membership drive and reorganisation from the ward to polling station level followed by the union councils and constituencies would be simultaneously initiated within a week.

Apart from that, he said,  it had also been decided to ascertain names of party activists who had violated party discipline during the recent general elections for disciplinary action against them. Recommendations would be sent to the central secretariat for revocation of the basic membership of those who had contested elections against party candidates, he added.

Qadir said the meeting had taken strong exception to the PTI government’s “vindictive actions” in AJK and all workers had been asked to submit details/proof in this regard.

He said the meeting had also strongly condemned “non-inclusion of Kashmir issue in the agenda of OIC foreign ministers’ conference in Islamabad” as well as the lack of any “substantial move” by Imran Khan in support of suffering Kashmiris after India’s Aug 5, 2019 move.

In his speech at Kohala, Haider claimed that he had declined to be part of the organising committee during his last meeting with Nawaz Sharif in London but he did not agree.

“Mian sahib asked me if I acknowledge him as 'head' and I responded you are not only the head but our leader. On this, he stressed that I [Haider] have to be part of the committee and supervise the task of reorganisation,” he claimed. 

He urged PML-N workers, particularly those active on social media, to not to issue any confrontational statements and instead maintain unity in their ranks.

 Tariq Naqash

 

PML-N president dissolves party's AJK chapter; forms committe for reorganisation

In a widely anticipated move, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shahbaz Sharif on Friday dissolved party’s entire organisation in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), forming a 15-member organising committee for reorganisation and fresh election of office bearers within two months.

According to a notification issued by party’s central secretary general Ahsan Iqbal, the organising committee is headed by Shah Ghulam Qadir, the former regional secretary general, and includes former regional president Raja Farooq Haider as one of the 14 members.  

The remaining members include Chaudhry Tariq Farooq from Bhimber, Chaudhry Muhammad Saeed from Mirpur, Raja Naseer Ahmed Khan and Zulfiqar Ali Malik from Kotli, Raja Mushtaq Minhas from Bagh, Chaudhry Muhammad Aziz from Haveli, Sardar Abdul Khaliq Wasi from Poonch, Dr Najeeb Naqi from Sudhnoti, Ms Noreen Arif and Barrister Iftikhar Ali Gillani from Muzaffarabad, Dr Mustafa Bashir from Jhelum Valley, Raja Muhammad Siddique and Syed Shaukat Shah from Kashmiri refugees based in Pakistan.

Except for Mr Malik and Mr Wasi, the rest were part of the cabinet in the previous PML-N government. Of these 15 members, only Mr Qadir and Mr Haider have returned in the July 2021 elections from Neelum and Jhelum valleys, respectively.

Interestingly, despite being the regional chapters of the national parties, both the PML-N and PPP AJK have their separate organisational bodies in the Kashmiri refugees’ constituencies in Pakistan as well as in Europe, UK, North America and Gulf countries.

The PML-N notification declared that all wings of the party as well as its organisational set-up in Pakistan and overseas would also stand dissolved.

Setting the terms of reference, it stated that the reorganisation and election for new office bearers would be held on the basis of divisions, districts, electoral constituencies, union councils, wards and polling stations in consultation with the members of the organising committee within two months.

The committee would keep the party president and secretary general informed about progress of reorganisation work on a regular basis, it added.

The PML-N was launched in AJK in December 2010, with Mr Haider and Mr Qadir its chief organiser and secretary organising committee, respectively. At the first convention in Mirpur in April 2012, Mr Haider, Mr Farooq and Mr Qadir were elected unopposed as president, senior vice president and secretary general, respectively.

However, afterwards the party could not hold a second convention, notwithstanding muffled voices for the same during its government in AJK from 2016 to 2021.

The differences in the PML-N AJK chapter came into the open late last month after Mr Qadir, Mr [Tariq] Farooq and Mr Minhas overturned the nominations of some United States-based PML-N workers for overseas party offices by Mr Haider during his private USA tour, saying that the move was not only "in contravention of a consensus on re-organisation but had also caused irreparable damage to the party’s goodwill.”

According to PML-N sources, at a meeting held in Kashmir House on July 31 last year, it was unanimously decided that all organisations and wings of PML-N AJK, including those in the 12 constituencies in Pakistan and abroad, would be dissolved to pave the way for fresh [party] elections and that the new bodies would be constituted at constituency, polling station/ward, union council, district and division level within two months.

The meeting was chaired by Mr Haider and other participants included Mr Farooq, Mr Minhas, Mr Naqim, Mr Aziz, Mr Wasi and Mr Malik.

Decisions of the meeting were conveyed to both Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif on the party's letterhead with signatures of all seven participants.

Before the controversy over nominations became public, Mr Haider and Mr Farooq had also separately called on Nawaz Sharif in London where the latter had reportedly asked them in detail about the reasons that had led to the party's vanquishment in AJK polls.

When contacted, Mr Qadir maintained that the reorganisation and fresh election of office bearers was a unanimous demand of all party workers that had been met by the central leadership.

“We will accomplish this task within the stipulated period by taking every worker on board,” he vowed.

Meanwhile, Friday’s decision had also triggered a volley of comments on different social media platforms between the supporters and opponents of the dissolution of the party's organisation, mainly the “demotion” of Mr Haider.  

However, according to a brief statement by his spokesperson, Mr Haider had urged all party workers to avoid “confrontational comments and maintain unity in their ranks.”

The spokesperson said Mr Haider would give a detailed response after his return from the UK on Dec 16.

Tariq Naqash