ISLAMABAD, April 23: People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP) secretary general and MNA Raja Pervaiz Ashraf has said that confrontation between his party and the army is not in the country's interest and asked Gen Pervez Musharraf to work for "national reconciliation."

Speaking at the "Meet the Press" programme here on Thursday, the PPP leader said the ball was now in the court of Gen Musharraf, who should work for "national reconciliation" as only he (Gen Musharraf) had the power to do so.

The MNA explained that the PPP reflected the peoples power whereas army represented the power of the establishment. Therefore, he said, the confrontation between the two could be disastrous for the country.

When asked as to what Gen Musharraf should do for "national reconciliation", Mr Ashraf said it was time that the genuine leadership should be allowed to come into the country to play its role. He said not only Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, but MQM chief Altaf Hussain should also come back to the country to help resolve the ongoing political crisis.

He claimed Gen Musharraf had gathered a group of "opportunists" around him. He said these were the people who always remained ready to join any government. He said these people did not have any ideology or political party. He asked Gen Musharraf not to destroy the political system in the country.

On the issue of appointment of opposition leader in the National Assembly, Mr Ashraf said the government wanted to give the slot to the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) as it was a part of "package deal" made at the time of presentation of the 17th Amendment Bill in the parliament.

Criticizing the role of National Accountability Bureau (NAB), he said people had lost confidence in the ongoing accountability process. He said the accountability should be across the board and there should be no political victimization in the name of accountability.

He asked the courts and human rights bodies to take notice of the eight-year long detention of Asif Ali Zardari. He said Mr Zardari had been granted bail in all 12 cases against him and now he was behind the bars only because of the BMW case. "Is there any person behind the bar in the country on the charges of not paying duty on a used car?" he questioned.

About the recent notice from the Swiss magistrate, Mr Ashraf said the government had tried to score points and exploit the situation by announcing that it was ready to facilitate Mr Zardari to proceed to Switzerland to defend himself in the SGS case. He said Mr Zardari was ready to go to Switzerland, provided his doctors were allowed him to travel.

He also criticized the government's economic policies. He said on the one hand, the government was claiming that it had billions of dollars foreign exchange reserves and on the other, poverty was constantly increasing in the country. "What is the use of these dollars, if the government is unable to alleviate poverty and maintain law and order," he questioned.