ISLAMABAD, July 27: The Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) has expressed satisfaction over its decision to boycott the talks with the government, and hoped that the MMA will not give up its stand on the major issues concerning the LFO and the president’s uniform as was agreed by the religious alliance at the two APCs.
A spokesman for the ARD told Dawn on Sunday that the alliance chief Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan presided over an informal meeting of the component party leaders on Sunday which expressed satisfaction over the consistency of their stand and endorsed the decision of boycott.
Those who attended the meeting were Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, Haider Bugti, Aitizaz Ahsan, Raza Rabbani, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Mir Hasil Bizenjo, Qazi Abdul Qadeer Khamosh, Naved Malik and others.
The ARD leaders maintained that any dialogue which deviated from the core issue of LFO would be an exercise in futility, particularly when Prime Minister Jamali or PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat were not ready to explain their position on fundamental issues.
The ARD, while taking notice of prime minister Jamali’s refusal to recognize the alliance, recalled that it had written a letter to the National Assembly speaker informing him that the numerical strength of its allied parties in the lower house was 78, making it the second largest party.
In that letter, duly signed by PPP’s Makhdoom Amin Fahim, PML-N’s Makhdoom Javed Hashmi and JWP’s Haider Bugti, the attention of the speaker was drawn to the fact that if other smaller parties of Imran Khan, Mehmud Khan Achakzai were also included then the total number would go up to 81, the ARD spokesman said.
The alliance took the position that nowhere in the parliamentary system were the members required to put their signatures on the list showing the numerical strength of the opposition which was being demanded by the speaker in the present case.
Prime minister Jamali, the sources said, had refused to talk to Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan when so advised by PPP’s Makhdoom Amin Fahim late on Saturday night when last-ditch efforts were being made to persuade the ARD component parties to attend the government-opposition party heads’ meeting.
Mr Jamali, the sources added, told Makhdoom that he wanted to ensure participation of the PPP and the PML-N who were represented in parliament, and not the ARD or its chief.
