ISLAMABAD, April 17: The People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) hit back at the government on Thursday, accusing it of obstinacy over the controversial presidential powers that it said endangered a transition to democracy.

Party chief Makhdoom Amin Fahim said the danger was posed by the government’s failure to start a meaningful dialogue rather than opposition protests against the powers assumed by President Pervez Musharraf through the Legal Framework Order.

“The opposition will in no case want to destroy the system,” he told a news conference here and said: “But if any damage is done, it will be because of the government’s obstinacy and it will be their responsibility,” he said.

The strong statement by the PPP leader came after repeated warnings by Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali and some other functionaries of the ruling coalition that the opposition’s insistence on clipping presidential powers could lead to a dissolution of the six-month-old National Assembly and an end of the present elected set-up.

Mr Fahim said the government had not yet approached the opposition for talks since speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain adjourned the National Assembly on Tuesday for two days after opposition members blocked the start of the lower house session.

The same day Mr Jamali, in a speech to his coalition partners, accused the opposition of not reciprocating, to what he called, “a great deal of flexibility and a sense of accommodation” shown by his government on ways to resolve differences.

Mr Fahim, speaking after meeting senior party leaders ahead of the resumption of the National Assembly session and the start of Senate session on Friday, said the government was trying to give a wrong impression that the opposition parties did not want the system or parliament to work.

Asked if the PPP would take part in the dialogue if invited by the government, Mr Fahim said: “If the government wants a meaningful dialogue, we will not close our doors.”

But he said the PPP would talk to the government as part of the combined opposition, which also included the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and some smaller regional allies, and “take a position in the interest of the country and democracy.”

In an apparent reference to the ruling party’s apparent preference so far to talk only to the MMA over the LFO, he said the government was trying to break the opposition unity and gain time.

There was no indication yet whether the opposition parties would change the mode of their protest against the LFO when the National Assembly resumes its session at 10.30am on Friday.

The LFO row is also likely to dominate the proceedings in the Senate when the 100-seat upper house meets at 5pm to begin a session requisitioned by the opposition parties to discuss Pakistan’s security and economic concerns.

PPP’s Senate parliamentary leader Mian Raza Rabbani told Dawn that the opposition groups would meet on Friday to plan their line of action before the start of the Senate session.

Mr Fahim said at his news conference that all opposition parties would continue to oppose the LFO.

“All (opposition) parties in parliament are united on their stand that the LFO cannot become part of the constitution unless it is passed by a two-thirds majority of both houses of parliament,” he said. “We are not going to compromise on this issue.”

PPP deputy parliamentary leader in the National Assembly Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi said opposition members were being individually told by government quarters that the assemblies elected in October 10 elections could be dissolved because of the opposition’s attitude against the LFO.

Mr Fahim said it was also a matter of controversy whether the present National Assembly session called by the president was constitutional or not while the mandatory joint sitting had not been held for fear of opposition chants.

The constitution says the president is part of the parliament, but Mr Fahim said it was not yet so in the case of General Musharraf, who has not been elected by the electoral college of both houses of parliament and the four provincial assemblies.