September 22, 2006	Friday	Sha'aban 28, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 21: The chances of a grand opposition alliance emerging soon have receded as allegations fly between the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) offers to play a mediator.

Talking to Dawn on Wednesday, deputy parliamentary leader of the MMA in the National Assembly Hafiz Hussain Ahmed held PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto directly responsible for the failure of the opposition to form a grand national alliance, while PPP secretary-general Raja Pervez Ashraf said the nation knew that the MMA had been supporting the military regime and was not ready to quit the assemblies.

“Benazir Bhutto is the main hurdle in the formation of the opposition alliance and launching of a joint anti-government movement,” Hafiz Hussain Ahmed said, adding the local PPP leaders were “powerless” as they were running the party through a “remote control.” He complained that the MMA was neither taken into confidence by the PPP and the PML-N at the time of signing of the charter of democracy nor at the time of making the decision to move a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. Despite all this, he said, the MMA supported the two parties during the no-trust motion in the larger interest of the opposition’s unity.

The MMA leader said all the opposition parties, except the PPP, had agreed to forming a grand opposition alliance at a meeting held at the residence of PML-N leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on August 31. He said on one hand, the PPP was filing a no- confidence motion against the regime and on the other, it was announcing its support to the women protection bill, tabled in the National Assembly at the behest of a ‘dictator’. He also regretted the ARD’s decision to exclude the MMA from Quetta’s public meeting.

PPP secretary-general Raja Pervez Ashraf, when contacted, said they were proud of getting instructions from their party chairperson as she was their leader. He said the MMA could not accuse the PPP of damaging the grand opposition alliance as no decision had been made regarding its formation. He said it was the MMA which supported the 17th Constitutional Amendment, and, again, it was busy in negotiations with a team of Gen Musharraf on the issue of the women protection bill.

Mr Ashraf said the PPP had supported the bill because it was a part of its manifesto and it did not mean that it had extended support to Gen Musharraf. He said the PPP was only taking part in legislative business in the parliament, while the MMA was holding talks with the government outside the parliament, he said.

The PPP leader said the MMA first announced that it would resign from the Balochistan government on September 5 after the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti, but later linked its resignations to the passing of the women protection bill.

Talking to Dawn, ARD secretary-general Iqbal Zafar Jhagra defended the alliance’s decision of stopping the MMA leaders from attending the Quetta public meeting. He said the decision was taken to actually save the MMA from embarrassment as local situation was not in their favour.

He also regretted the MMA’s decision to link their resignations to passing of women protection bill.

Acting parliamentary leader of the PML-N Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, when contacted, claimed that all the opposition leaders, who had attended the meeting at his residence, had unanimously agreed to forming the grand opposition alliance through a show of hands. “For the PML-N it is rather unfortunate that there seem to be a falling out on the principle of grand opposition alliance by some of the parties,” he said without naming any party.

Mr Khan, however, said the PML-N had been acting as a catalyst to bring all major opposition parties on one platform. He said even if the PML-N was left alone, it would remain consistent in opposing the present regime.