The Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarian-Patriots (PPPPP) was launched in Lahore at a news conference late on Sunday, with the 'forward bloc' that had broken away from the PPP to back the Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam (PML-QA) transforming itself into Pakistan's newest party.

The leader of the PPPP rebel group and Interior Minister, Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat, l while announcing the formal creation of the new party, said that at least two dozen MPAs from Punjab were expected to join it.

By yesterday afternoon, at least 12 have formally done so, breaking away from the PPPP, with the continued suspension of the constitutional clause on defections allowing them to do so.

PPP chief Benazir Bhutto has been named 'supreme leader' of the party, with rebel leaders silent on whether they had her consent.

The decision to launch the new party was taken at the Lahore residence of Faisal at a meeting after Iftar attended by the dissident members of National Assembly (MNA) and other party workers.

"We want to liberate the party which has been held hostage by a wife and husband," Faisal was quoted as saying, hinting at MNA Naheed Khan and Safdar Abbassi, a source who attended the meeting said.

Naheed Khan, Benazir's political secretary, and her husband, have been widely accused of trying to take over the party.

The dissident move is also being seen as a potential defence against disqualification stemming from floor-crossing charges once the relevant constitutional articles are restored.

PPP general secretary Raza Rabbani hinted that legal action could be initiated against the dissidents and their disqualification may be sought.

While press reports continued to insist that Benazir herself was behind the new party in a move against PPPP leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim, members of the Faisal-led party said: "We have shown that we are loyal to democracy. If we had not taken the step, parliament would still not have been called."

Faisal, who arrived in Lahore on Sunday evening, remained in a meeting with the PPPP MPAs at his residence till late night.

Patriot insiders said several MPAs drove straight to Faisel's residence after attending a meeting of the PPPP parliamentary party presided over by the party's Punjab president, Qasim Zia.

Sources identified the Punjab dissidents as Pir Syed Nazim Hussain Shah (Multan), Makhdoom Mukhtar Hussain Shah (Khanewal), Mohammed Yar Mamoonka (Bahawalnagar), Rao Ejaz Ali Khan (Bahawalnagar), Ahsan Raza (Faisalabad), Khalid Mehmood Warron (Bahawalpur), Pir Willayat Shah Khaga (Sahiwal), Chaudhry Arshad (Sahiwal), Amar Usman Adil (Gujrat) and Ashraf Sohana (Okara).

They said five MNAs and a dozen MPAs from Punjab would join the Patriots soon. After backing the PML-QA, the dissident group has been rewarded with six cabinet slots in Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali's cabinet.

However, the dissident group still believes that former prime minister Benazir is their undisputed leader and have absolute trust in her leadership. "There is no dispute over the party leadership of Benazir Bhutto who still commands their undivided loyalty," sources within the new party maintained.

When asked how many members supported the new group in its efforts to 'liberate' the party, sources said around two dozen members and other party stalwarts outside parliament had assured their support to the group.

This is not the first time that the PPP has given birth to splinter groups or parties from within its fold. Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi and Ghulam Mustafa Khar announced their own party, the National Peoples Party in the eighties.

Since then, Aftab Ahmed Sherpao, Ghinwa Bhutto and Rana Shaukat Mehmood have also launched their own dissident groups.