October 16, 2002	Wednesday	Sha’aban 9, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 15: President People’s Party Parliamentarian (PPP), Makhdoom Amin Fahim, will visit Dubai on Saturday to apprise the party chairperson, Benazir Bhutto, of his initial talks with other political parties regarding formation of the future government.

The PPP president will return the very next day after consulting the life chairperson as the Central Executive Committee of the party has been convened for Oct 22 in Karachi, party sources disclosed.

The review of current political situation was the only item on the agenda of PPP central executive committee meeting.

Besides the PPP president, some other party leaders, including the provincial presidents, are also expected to proceed to Dubai for seeking guidance from the chairperson.

Makhdoom Fahim has already completed a round of talks with two key leaders of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman, and is expected to meet Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani on Wednesday morning.

The details of negotiations with the leaders of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal by Makhdoom Fahim and Chairman Pakistan Muslim League (N) Raja Zafar-ul-Haque will also be discussed at the meeting of Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD), to be held on Thursday in Islamabad.

Before the alliance meeting, Makhdoom Amin Fahim will meet the newly-elected members of the national assembly and Punjab’s provincial assembly at the residence of PPP provincial chief Qasim Zia in Lahore.

Acting Secretary General of PPP, Mian Raza Rabbani, who was conspicuous by his absence from the first-round meetings held by PPP president, remarked that the party “has yet to initiate formal dialogue” with other parties.

He termed the initial contact of the PPP president an effort at “breaking the ice.”

Commenting on the different options available to the PPP, he said cooperation with the PML(N) was a remote possibility.

As regards the speculation that the MMA has been offered speakership of the national assembly and Liaquat Baloch could be the best choice for the coveted slot, he said some adjustments would have to be made as MMA was the third largest political force.

He said they had not yet entered into the phase where specifics would be discussed or sorted out.

“With MMA, we needed to make adjustment on the foreign policy issues,” he said, without elaborating. The two parties had traditionally the same stance on Kashmir issue but differed on the approach towards its solution.