LAHORE, Oct 22: Components of the All-Party Conference (APC) have not yet decided if their MPs-elect should take oath under the amended constitution or not, APC convener Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan has said.

Answering a question at a news conference here on Tuesday, the ARD president said the issue of taking oath under the amended Constitution had not been taken up at any meeting and thus he could not offer the APC or ARD’s point of view in this regard.

However, he said, incorporation of the LFO in the Constitution amounted to undermining the sanctity of the basic law.

Asked which party had the right to form the government, the veteran leader said no party had an overall majority, because of which a coalition had become imperative.

“Which party should be invited by Gen Musharraf to form government?” a reporter asked.

The ARD chief said the general was not willing to talk to any party head. He said the general talked only to his own colleagues. He was expected to do so this time as well, he added.

Replying to a question, he said the PPP, the PML(N) and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Aml were ‘natural’ allies who could get a majority in the assembly. In case they were not afforded an opportunity to do so, the next assembly would be a non-starter.

Asked whether the ARD would support Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s candidature for the office of prime minister, the Nawabzada said the alliance would support a person committed to the APC declarations against the constitutional amendments made during the past three years.

He alleged that the split mandate had been planned by the current regime.

The Nawabzada said the PML(Q) was not a democratic party and an ARD component’s alliance with it would be unnatural.