LAHORE, Oct 28: The Pakistan Muslim League’s initiative to call an all-party conference with President Pervez Musharraf playing the lead role received a setback on Friday when Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal chief Qazi Husain Ahmed said the alliance would not participate in what he called an exercise in futility.
The holding of the APC has become difficult for the government as most of the parties in the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy are also in favour of staying away.
“There is a consensus in the ARD that we should not take part in the conference,” ARD chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim told Dawn.
However, PML information secretary Senator Tariq Azeem said the government would keep trying to persuade the opposition parties that they should cooperate. “The initiative is for the good of the nation and politics should be kept aside to help the quake victims.”
He said PML chief Chaudhry Shujaat Husain would stay in contact with other opposition parties with the hope that they would change their mind in the larger national interest.
The ARD chief has not been approached by the government so far.
PML (Nawaz) chairman Raja Zafarul Haq was apprised by Mr Husain of the government’s move to hold the APC but the former thinks that it was a delayed move.
Qazi Husain alleged while talking to reporters here that by holding the APC Gen Musharraf wanted to get ratified the steps he had taken individually. He said the MMA would not like to become a party to the move, although it would continue to take part in the relief activities for the quake victims.
The MMA chief said the alliance had proposed that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz should take the initiative. But, regrettably, the controversial National Security Council held a meeting and took all decisions, he said.
“If the decisions are to be taken by the NSC, there’s no need for an APC,” he argued.
Answering a question, Qazi Husain said the MMA had held consultations with other parties before taking the decision to stay away from the proposed meeting.
The ARD chairman said the alliance’s leaders had serious reservations about the decision-making process followed by the rulers. He alleged that the rulers took all important decisions first and contacted the opposition subsequently. For example, he said, North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces had been brought in without taking the opposition into confidence.
Our staff reporter in Islamabad adds: Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao told reporters after the passing out ceremony of second batch of Afghan police officials at the national Police Academy that the government had invited all the opposition leaders to the APC in an effort to make a joint strategy to cope with the effects of the Oct 8 earthquake.
“The issue of earthquake is above politics and I hope that the opposition will play its due role in the time of crisis,” he said.
Mr Sherpao said the opposition had so far played a positive role in the relief operation.
When contacted, ARD secretary-general Zafar Iqbal Jhagra said none of the opposition parties had so far received invitation to the APC.
“Even if we would have been invited, it is too late to hold the conference because the damage has already been done and the government wants to put its responsibility on the opposition’s shoulders,” he said.
He said the opposition had already demanded the holding of a joint session of parliament instead of the APC. “The issue should be discussed on the floor of the house,” he demanded.
He accused the government of mishandling the situation, saying that hundreds of people could have been rescued if a planned and timely rescue and relief operation was conducted.
