November 22, 2006	Wednesday	Shawwal 29, 1427

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LAHORE, Nov 21: ARD Chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim says all opposition parties, including the MMA, should sit together and decide their future course of action keeping in mind the objective conditions.

However, he said, he would not advise the MMA whether they should resign from their seats or not. "They are a separate alliance; (they are) free to take their own decisions," Mr Fahim said while talking to this correspondent on Tuesday.

When it was pointed out that some PPP leaders were of the view that the MMA resignations could plunge the country into a crisis, Mr Fahim said this might be the personal opinion of some people. At the same time, he said, the ARD had not as yet taken a decision on quitting the assemblies.

Asked about the ARD’s point of view on the timing of the next general elections, he said national interest should be kept in mind while deciding the schedule. There was a time, he pointed out, when the ARD demanded immediate elections. But now it was of the view that if the national interest called for early elections, they should be held without delay, and if national interest lay in delaying the process for a while, then the polls should be held at a later date.

He said all opposition parties could take a better decision on the issue. But, he regretted, the opposition parties stood divided and these days they were busy casting aspersion on one another. The ARD chairman said the government would not give any importance to any demand made individually by any party or alliance and thus all parties should take collective decisions.

He reiterated that the next elections should be held under the supervision of an interim government of national consensus and independent and autonomous election commissioners at the Centre and in provinces.

Mr Fahim said a meeting of the PPP’s central executive committee would be called in December to review the situation and take necessary decisions.

The ARD chairman said Gen Musharraf had said it time and again that he wanted the assemblies to complete their term. He said he was the one who would take a decision on the timing of the election. In his opinion the MMA’s resignations would also determine the course of future politics.

Mr Fahim has left for London from where he will be going to USA after a few days.

In US, Mr Fahim will meet Benazir Bhutto.