September 29, 2003	Monday	Sha’aban 2, 1424

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LAHORE, Sept 28: The Millat Party will not be merged with any other political party, secretary-general Senator Muhammad Ali Durrani says.

Speaking at a press conference here on Sunday, he said the party was not a group of dissidents of any party. He, however, said his party welcomed the unification of five PML factions and termed it a positive development.

He said a meeting of the national council of the party was convened for Monday (today) in Lahore to discuss the current political situation, performance of the government and its allies, re-organization and launch of a mass-contact drive.

The council would also review party’s decisions since Oct 10, 2002 elections and their cost, besides chalking out future line of action, he added.

He told a questioner that to govern the country was not the task of the army and it was for this reason that the party was working with Gen Pervez Musharraf and the PML-Q government to frame a strategy for avoiding army takeovers in future.

Answering a question, he said public representatives had the right to rule the country and the National Security Council and constitution’s clause 58-2(b) could check army intervention.

He regretted that the opposition instead of fortifying these efforts was busy destabilizing the incumbent system.

Quoting some reports, he claimed that opposition parliamentarians were angry with their exiled leadership due to continuous boycott of parliament’s proceedings and wanted to play more active role in the house.