Chaudhry Shujaat removed as PML-Q president

Rifts between the PML-Q on Thursday widened as the party elected Wajahat Hussain as its central president, formally ending the 19-year rule of his brother Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain, while retaining former chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi as party’s Punjab president.

The decision was taken at PML-Q’s General Council meeting at Muslim League House in Lahore.

Party officials and leaders from Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Balochistan participated in the meeting along with PML-Q officials from Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

The council also removed Shujaat’s close aide Tariq Bashir Cheema and elected Kamil Ali Agha as the central secretary general of the party.

Further, Pervaiz was elected unopposed as PML-Q Punjab president.

Bao Muhammad Rizwan was nominated as the provincial general secretary.

Differences between the PML-Q first appeared in March last year around the time of the no-confidence motion against former premier Imran Khan as Pervaiz and his son Moonis Elahi backed the PTI camp while Shujaat joined the then-opposition.

The situation aggravated during last year’s Punjab chief minister election as Shujaat supported the candidature of PML-N’s Hamza Shehbaz instead of Pervaiz, while the Punjab former chief minister on the advice of his son, Moonis, decided to go with the PTI.

Following the dissolution of Punjab Assembly, Shujaat sent a show-cause notice to Elahi and suspended his membership over his comments regarding the party’s possible merger with the PTI.

According to the Election Commission of Pakistan sources, the PML-Q could not be merged with the PTI on Elahi’s whim as the party was registered in Shujaat’s name.

In a show-cause notice, Elahi was asked to explain his “unconstitutional action” within seven days.