October 10, 2006	Tuesday	Ramazan 16, 1427

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LAHORE, Oct 9: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif will again propose the formation of a grand opposition alliance at a meeting with Ms Benazir Bhutto in London slated for Oct 19, sources close to the exiled leader said on Sunday.

Mr Sharif, sources said, would try to remove reservations of the PPP leadership about joining hands with the six-party Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal.

The PPP says that the ARD and the MMA are separate alliances and they should continue their struggle for democracy from their respective platforms.

PPP-Parliamentarians president Makhdoom Amin Fahim has been consistently saying that there is no need for a “grand opposition alliance” as a “joint opposition” is already working satisfactorily.

The PML-N sources said that struggle against dictatorship would not succeed unless all opposition parties launched a joint struggle.

It is expected that Mr Sharif will brief the PPP chairperson about his meeting with Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

Sources say that Mr Sharif will also approach the MMA leadership to request them that they should follow a clear policy. The former prime minister is of the opinion that it’s not fair for the religious alliance to sit with the government and the opposition parties at the same time.

Mr Sharif, the source said, would also take up the issue of “back channel” contacts between the government and PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto.

It is said that the ARD had decided in principle that no component of the alliance would hold individual talks with the government, and in case there was a proposal from the government, a decision would be taken jointly by the alliance.

In the light of this principled decision, the contacts Ms Bhutto had admitted with the government were violative of the unwritten understanding among the ARD parties.

Sources close to Mr Sharif said that the PML-N was still of the view that any decision on any contact made by the government should be taken from the ARD platform.

About reservations expressed by the PPP to convert the ARD into an election alliance, the PML-N sources said that the party had not yet considered whether an electoral alliance was a better option.

“We don’t know whether it will suit us”, the PML-N sources said.

The PML-N sources said both the former prime ministers would also discuss the timing for quitting the assemblies.

Legislators of the PPP and the PML-N have already submitted their resignations to their respective leaders, leaving to them to decide the timing for handing them over to the speakers.

The PML-N is of the view that the resignations should have been submitted immediately after the killing of Baloch leader Akbar Bugti. However, the PPP did not support the idea, saying such a step should be taken at a time when a strong popular movement was going on outside the parliament.