PML-Q may replace Chaudhry brothers

By OUR PAKISTAN CORRESPONDENT

Islamabad

Oct. 25: Former ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e-Azam) is set to change the beleaguered party’s leadership by replacing the "unpopular" Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Chaudhry Pervez Elahi with some "vibrant" new faces, political sources said.

Mr Hussain and Mr Elahi are respectively former Prime Minister and chief minister of Punjab but have lost popularity and grip over the party every since former President Pervez Musharraf quit power.

They formed a new party from within the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) when General Musharraf overthrew Nawaz Sharif’s government in 1999. The PML-Q then went on to win the 2002 general election and ruled the country for five years.

The 2008 election however, saw the emergence of the PML-N and the Sharif brothers.

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) formed the government at the Centre and the PML-N is now running the government in the powerful Punjab province.

PML-Q sources claimed the rebel group leaders, headed by Mr Chaudhry Hamid Nasir Chattha and Senator Salim Saifullah Khan, would formally meet Mr Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi to offer an "honourable" exit.