May 30, 2003	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 27,1424

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ISLAMABAD, May 29: Leaders of two opposition alliances — Muttahidda Majlis-i-Amal and the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy — will meet on Friday (today) to chalk out a strategy for launching a protest campaign against the detention of the Punjab Assembly legislators in Lahore.

This was stated on Thursday by leader of the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) in the Senate Mian Raza Rabbani and MNA Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi while talking to reporters here.

They said that they were in touch with the MMA leadership over the issue.

Mr Rabbani said that he had talked to Liaquat Baloch, adding that the meeting would be held on Friday as most of the Muttahidda Majlis-i-Amal leadership was out of the city.

Mr Rabbani said that he, along with president of the PPP Makhdoom Amin Fahim and Mr Qureshi had held talks with acting president of Pakistan Muslim League-N Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, adding that they had decided to take a joint decision in this regard.

Criticizing the Punjab government, the PPP senator said that the opposition members had again been denied entry to the Punjab Assembly for the third consecutive day as heavy contingents of police surrounded the assembly building.

Terming the incident in which a policeman had slapped an MPA from Faisalabad extreme police brutality, he said that only the PML-Q would be responsible if any harm was caused to the assemblies.

Dispelling the impression that the PPP and the PML-N were destabilizing the system, he questioned the contention saying that the PPP had stakes in the system.

The PPP, he said, held the people’s interests dearer than anything else, adding that the PML-Q’s stakes were linked with another dictator. He said that if the government fell, it would cause the downfall of the PML-Q, too.

Accusing the government of insincerity, Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that it was obvious right from the day one of the government-opposition talks, adding that the PPP had participated in the talks to expose the government.

He said that while the opposition parties had shown maximum flexibility, the government had remained inflexible on the LFO issue.

Questioning the motives of the government, he said that on the one hand it was holding talks apparently in a bid to resolve the contentious issue of the LFO, while on the other hand it was victimizing the opposition members, tabling resolution in the provincial assembly favouring Gen Pervez Musharraf.

Referring to the accusation that the PPP was being dictated by the party’s chairperson Benazir Bhutto, he termed her a leader of the masses, saying that every party member felt pride in seeking her guidance, adding that she had the “legitimate right” to do so.

Accusing the PML-Q leadership of delaying the resolution of the LFO issue, he urged the government to immediately convene the meeting of party heads in this regard.