ISLAMABAD, Dec 21: President of Pakistan Muslim League Chaudhry Shujat Hussain on Wednesday termed the proposal of Benazir Bhutto for the formation of an interim government impractical, saying she had not presented any new proposal.

He expressed these views while talking to a private television channel.

Mr Shujaat said he had called for the formation of a national government in 2002 irrespective of the outcome of the election results. He said the situation would have been different if the PPP had then accepted the proposal. He said the proposal was not acceptable now because new elections would be held after one-and-a-half or two years.

Referring to Ms Bhutto’s recent demands, the PML president said: “Let the elections be held. God willing, we will see to it after the polls.”

When his attention was drawn to Benazir Bhutto’s views about domestic politics vis-à-vis the row over the Kalabagh dam and the situation in Balochistan, Mr Shujaat said that the PPP, its leadership, especially her father, former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, had supported Kalabagh dam even when he was in the cabinet of Ayub.

He said there was no crisis in the country necessitating an interim government.

He said President Pervez Musharraf would visit the four provinces to evolve a consensus on the issue, adding that a complete national consensus on the issue was almost impossible as there had not been even on the creation of Pakistan and even in many matters in Islam.

“If you think some thing is in national interest, then you have to take some bold and unpopular decisions that apparently appear to be unpopular at the time,” adding that the majority had always liked bold decisions in the broader national interest, asserted Shujaat.

He said the removal of genuine reservations on Kalabagh dam was possible through constitutional guarantees and by taking other confidence-building measures. He said that removal of reservations was not an impossible task but so far as the vested interests of some persons was concerned they could not achieve it on the pretext of these reservations.

Chaudhry Shujaat said there has been an informal debate in the parliament on Kalabagh dam with other parties, adding that parliament was the real forum for evolving a consensus on Kalabagh dam.—Online