LAHORE, June 6: The Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-i-Azam) will not join hands with the National Alliance headed by former caretaker prime minister Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, Chuadhry Pervez Elahi, the party’s Punjab president, announced on Thursday.

In a statement issued here, he said the party had taken the decision after due consultation.

On account of their pro-government positions, the PML-QA and the National Alliance had been expected to form an alliance to challenge the Pakistan People’s Party and the PML(N) in the October general elections.

About cooperation with other PML factions, Mr Elahi said his party was willing to give party offices to those merging their factions with the PML-QA. But, he said, the party would not yield the offices held by its senior leaders. He said those demanding a change in the party’s organizational structure had, in fact, no structures of their own.

Instead of forming any alliance, he said the party would make adjustments with the Jamaat-i-Islami, the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam and other parties having a similar ideology. He said the next election would be contested primarily between parties which had created Pakistan and the one which, according to him, was responsible for its dismemberment.

He was critical of Ms Benazir Bhutto’s statements during her visit to India. These statements, he alleged, showed that interests of other countries were darers to the former prime minister than her own country.

The PML-QA leader said Ms Bhutto had confined her politics to the “Sindh card.”

He praised the performance of his party in the local elections and said the rivals had proved no match for it. He asked the party leaders to shun the bitterness of the local elections and devote their energies to strengthening the party.

Meanwhile, the PML-QA has called a meeting on June 12 at the residence of Chaudhry Shujaat Husain in connection with the consultations for the elections.

Mian Azhar will preside over the meeting.