When the chief of his own PML faction and the Secretary General of the PML (Likeminded), Ejazul Haq, called on Nawai Waqt Group Chairman and TheNation Editor-in-Chief Majid Nizami at his office, he said that certain leaders were proving an obstacle in unifying different factions of the PML. During the meeting, Mr Haq observed that the Muslim League had a votebank of about 45 percent. He did not add, though he could have, that the partys disunity would lead to the splitting of that votebank. Similar disunity, and a similar split, in 1970, had led to most League candidates losing in the 1970 election, as a result of which the country split, and the PPP came to power in what was left of Pakistan. However, he was very right in saying that the countrys circumstances demanded that leaders should gather under the PML flag. Mr Haq was thus right to praise Mr Nizamis previous efforts for party unity, and it was in this context that he asked him to again make efforts to unify the party. It is significant that Mr Haq related the details of not just his own meeting with Mian Nawaz Sharif but also of Pir Sahib Pagaros son and of Makhdoom Ahmad Mahmood, and said that the Pir Pagaro had said that there could be political cooperation with Mian Nawaz in the future. The contact by Mr Haq, his Secretary General, should act as a fillip to unity efforts, which had come to a halt after former Prime Minister Mir Zafrullah Jamali had been unable to get through to either Mian Nawaz or the PML-Qs Chaudhry cousins. The talks Mr Haq is undertaking thus represent another unity effort by the Pir Pagaro, though this time after the emergence of the PML-Likeminded of which he is the President. Elections are around the corner, and thus all parties are seeking alliances. However, at this time, League unity is essential, and those leaders whose egos are in the way should not think that they are more important than the country, which requires a Muslim League as united and dynamic as the one which the Quaid-e-Azam led before partition. There must be no waiting for elections, which are not far off and anyhow, the PML must play an effective election role before the elections, which it can do only if it is united. League leaders must not allow their egos to get in the way of what is the only way their leagues will survive the political storm that is the coming election. Pakistan has one huge, succesful party in the PPP. For a two-party democratic system, it needs a united PML. None of the leagues alone will suffice.