Dr Sher Afgan quits APML

Dr Sher Afgan Khan Niazi, senior vice president of All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) and a close aide of General Musharraf Saturday resigned from the basic membership of the party, due to differences with some party leaders. Talking to Business Recorder from Mianwali over the phone, Niazi said that he quit the party due to differences with party leaders prominent among them are Barrister Saif Ali Khan, Fawad Chaudhry and Chaudhry Shahbaz.
When asked as to how Musharraf could abandon a close trusted friend like him, he said that he categorically told him that in presence of these leaders, who want only publicity for themselves by using APML platform; it was not possible for him to continue any further.
"These are the people who just want self projection, nothing else...they have nothing to do with the party and I'm a man of principle, and for me it is not possible to go ahead any longer with these people who think there is nobody on the earth except them," he added.
He said Musharraf assured him that he would take strict notice of his concerns but... "I apologised and said it was impossible for me to continue in the presence of the 'trio'." "He [Musharraf] is always very kind...he told me on telephone that what is gone is gone and asked me not to take such decision but for me you know...it is very difficult to revisit once I take a decision," he added.
About his joining of any other party, he said he is not going to join any political party and rather take part in the coming elections as an independent candidate. "I've always been elected as an independent candidate and next time I will contest elections as an independent candidate," he maintained. When contacted, Fawad Chaudhry rejected the claims of Niazi terming his [Niazi] resignation as propaganda against the party.
According to sources, Sher Afgan called it a day when he, being a seasoned politician wanted to work independently without giving any importance to the second-tier APML leadership. The APML sources said that he had told Musharraf that Barrister Saif and his followers in the party did not possess any political experience and are not popular among the party men and their role should be made honorary in the new arrangement of party offices.