July 30, 2003	Wednesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 29, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, July 29: The Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) has said the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) will be the loser even if the religious alliance and the government reached an agreement on the Legal Framework Order (LFO).

The ARD leaders were of the view that the MMA had secured anti-Musharraf votes in the October polls cashing in on the military government’s Afghan and Iraq policies.

Recalling that the MMA arranged million marches against Gen Musharraf, they said now they were not only ready to accept him as president in uniform for one year but also willing to elect him for another five-year term.

“With what face will they go to their constituencies and face the people?” an ARD leader asked.

PPP SENATOR: People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) Senator Farhatullah Khan Babar, talking to Dawn on Tuesday, said the MMA and the government might find a short-term solution to the LFO problem but in the aftermath it would create a bigger problem for the country and the MMA itself.

Senator Babar said with the joining of hands with the government by the MMA, a clear division between the democratic and non-democratic forces had emerged. He predicted that the government-MMA alignment would not be durable and would further destabilize the country.

He expressed the hope that the democratic forces would succeed in bringing the country out of the present political and constitutional crises.

The PPP senator said with each passing day, the MMA and the government were getting closer and the gap between the ARD and the religious alliance was widening.

He said the ARD had refused to give legitimacy to Gen Musharraf’s rule and the amendments made in the Constitution in the past three years.

Meanwhile, the deputy information secretary of the ARD said the MMA would not be invited to attend the Aug 14 rally at Liaquat Bagh. He said on July 26, the MMA leaders announced that there was no president in the country and refused to accept Gen Musharraf’s referendum, but in less than 24 hours, they proposed to the government that they were ready to accept him “in or out of uniform” for the next five years.

When asked what will be ARD’s reaction if the government-MMA talks failed and the religious alliance wanted to rejoin the combined opposition, he said the ARD would welcome them.