October 28, 2002	Monday	Sha’aban 21,1423

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LAHORE, Oct 27: Future political scenario remains unclear even two weeks after the general elections as major political parties have yet to find allies with which they can form a coalition government or share opposition benches.

The president’s spokesman said on Sunday that Gen Pervez Musharraf was determined to stay neutral, leaving it entirely to politicians to decide who should form the government and how.

“The president will not like even to comment on the situation. His job was over on the day he held free and fair elections in the country,” said Maj Gen Rashid Qureshi when he was approached for the president’s views on the prevailing situation.

“Address the question to political parties. We are not influencing any party. Whatever options, they are with the elected legislators,” he pointed out.

Asked how the objective of the restoration of democracy would be achieved if the deadlock persisted, Gen Qureshi said the question did not concern the president. Any solution of the situation has to be worked out by political parties which had contested the elections,” the president’s spokesman said.

As things stand, parties in the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) are weighing their own options, though Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan is trying to keep the two alliances together and wants them to follow a joint course of action.

Sources close to the octogenarian leader admit that it would be very difficult for the PPP, PML-N and the MMA to form a stable government in the present circumstances, notwithstanding their public statements to the contrary.

“First of all it will be difficult for them to set up a coalition. And in case they do, it will be a challenging task to run it. Nobody can safely predict how long will such a setup last, if at all parties in the two alliances join hands,” said the All Parties Conference (APC) sources.

The PML(Q) claims that it can form government at the centre even without the MMA, but is convinced that the arrangement will not work for long. It is striving to gain the support of religious parties without bargaining on premiership.

Religious parties are still thinking about what extent they can be flexible in their stand on various issues to facilitate the revival of the democratic process after a three-year military rule.

Sources say that parties will step up their mutual contacts during the next few days to finalize their future course of action. Not much time is at their disposal as the first session of the new assembly is likely to be held in the first week of November.