July 26, 2006	Wednesday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 29, 1427

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LAHORE, July 25: Exiled former prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif says the government is underestimating the likely impact of the proposed en masse resignations by opposition legislators as they will make it impossible for the assemblies to continue to function.

Once the opposition lawmakers resigned, no party would put up its candidates in the by-elections as a result of which any step taken by the ruling party to fill the vacant seats would be nothing but a farce, Mr Sharif said while talking to Dawn by phone on Tuesday.

“Opposition’s resignations should not be taken lightly. It’s a very serious matter”.

The PML-N leader said the ARD would not accept Gen Musharraf as president with or without uniform, and he would have to retire and wait for two years before qualifying to contest the election for the office. In case he tried to get himself re-elected from the present assemblies, the opposition legislators would quit in protest, he warned.

Replying to a question, Mr Sharif said his party was also holding consultations on quitting the assemblies as well as tabling a no-confidence motion against the prime minister, and a decision on the subject would be taken by consensus. He said his party would like to take all opposition parties along which wanted the restoration of democracy and an end for good to what he called the military rule.

“You have been struggling against the present system since the 2002 elections. In case the assemblies complete their term, will the opposition regard it as its success or failure?” he was asked.

Mr Sharif said in case the assemblies completed their term, it would be because of the dictator sitting on the top, not any achievement of the ruling party leaders. He said those working under the umbrella of an army chief had nothing to be proud of. When the entire system was unconstitutional, the dictator could get 10 years for himself in return for five to the assemblies, he said in an obvious reference to the ruling party leaders’ efforts to re-elect the general.

In response to a question, the PML-N leader said a grand opposition alliance could come into being any time, even as early as Aug 14. Contacts between the opposition parties were going on and the day was not far away when the ARD, the MMA, the ANP, the Sindh National Alliance, the PONAM and the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf would be sitting together in an alliance.

He said for the time being he was not in a position to say whether the proposed alliance would have an organisational structure like that of the ARD’s or the MMA’s or the constituents would work in close coordination with one another from their respective platforms. “It depends upon the convenience of other parties”.

About an all-party conference the ARD had planned to hold in London, the exiled leader said: “Wait for a few more months and it may be held even in Pakistan (in the presence of the exiled leaders)”.

He claimed that Gen Musharraf was running out of options and he was caught in a blind alley. He said in an abortive move to free himself from the problems he had created for himself, the general might have to commit another violation of the Constitution, a step which would have its own consequences.

He said the general should quit both the offices immediately.

About the letter written by some intellectuals, ruling party leaders and some retired generals urging President Musharraf to take off his uniform, Mr Sharif said the letter had established that not all the generals were like the one who had toppled a democratic government in October 1999.