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| September 18, 2002 | Wednesday | Rajab 10, 1423 |
NA foresees strong opposition
LAHORE, Sept 17: The National Alliance (NA) sees a limited role for future parliament, whose duration, it says, will depend upon its conduct rather than the constitutional decree in the presence of a powerful president and a strong opposition.
Although mostly old faces are potential winners in the October polls, they will not be spared if they behave like in the past, says NA secretary-general Mohammad Ali Durrani.
Talking to Dawn here on Tuesday, Mr Durrani said he foresaw a strong opposition in the post-election scenario besides a president armed with 58(2-B) and the National Security Council, who would force the elected representatives to behave.
The future MPs would be unable to indulge in corruption, he claimed. The prime minister would have to show competence and set his priorities right, he added.
Mr Durrani, whose NA is part of the Grand National Alliance, said the GNA had a two-point agenda — to give the country a stable government and ensure continuity of reforms introduced by the military government.
About the allegations being levelled by almost all opposition parties, he said the rulers would not commit the folly of rigging the elections for fear of national and international pressure.
He predicted a low turnout in the October polls for, he said, the masses did not see any change for the better in the future.
He was critical of involvement of Nazimeen in the politics. It was a conspiracy of the bureaucracy to defame the office which had snatched its powers, he alleged.
Answering a question about credibility of the polls if the PPP and the PML-N boycotted them, he said their credibility would be damaged to some extent if Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal followed the two mainstream parties.
He, however, predicted that the local leadership of the two parties would rise in revolt if their bosses sitting abroad chose to boycott the elections. The leaders sitting abroad feared that in case of electoral achievements in their absence they would loose their control over their parties, he claimed.
About adjustments with the PML-QA, he said that to save the GNA from any split, it had been decided that the NA and the PML-QA would see to it that no third party won a seat in case of a mutual confrontation.
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