Chaudhry Shujaat, sources said, was perturbed over the eruption of crisis-like situation in Sindh and wanted its amicable resolution in the shortest possible time, therefore, he wanted an audience with Premier Shaukat Aziz.
"PML president is unhappy over the chief minister's unilateral decision to sack the minister. It will have a direct bearing on provincial politics, if damage control is not done at the earliest," sources privy to the meeting said.
These sources told Business Recorder that in this connection, Chaudhry Shujaat chaired a high-level meeting at his residence on Saturday. The other decision taken during the meeting was that a three-member fact-finding mission, comprising Majeed Malik (Punjab), Gohar Ayub (NWFP) and Fazle Agha (Balochistan) would visit Karachi within a day or two.
The mission will meet provincial president of the party and Chief Minister Sindh Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim and the fired provincial minister for revenue Imtiaz Sheikh, sources maintained. Both have never enjoyed smooth relationship ever since the MPA from Tharparkar was made chief minister last year, sources said.
The mission after assessing the situation and listening to the viewpoint of both the sides would report back to the party leadership on whether or not to sack Imtiaz Sheikh as PML provincial secretary general.
Final decision, however, on the fate of Imtiaz Sheikh will be taken after the report of the fact-finding mission and the PM's inspection commission, sources pointed out.
PML Information Secretary Senator Tariq Azeem confirmed that before leaving for Gujrat, Chaudhry Shujaat chaired two meetings on Sindh situation. The senator said that the meeting gave mandate to PML president to meet President General Pervez Musharraf next week if deemed necessary. However, it could not be confirmed whether both Dr Arbab and Sheikh were present during the meeting.
Meanwhile, some analysts here in the federal capital saw the emergence of differences between Dr Arbab and Sheikh a prelude to a possible change in the provincial set-up.