KARACHI, Jan 4: People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) chief Makhdoom Amin Fahim is heading for Dubai on Friday amid reports of contacts between the military-led government and the PPP.

The visit becomes all the more significant in the wake of a television interview of PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto who declared that her party was ready to contest elections under General Pervez Musharraf if certain conditions were met. She also said that if General Musharraf tried to get himself elected by existing assemblies then all the opposition parties would come out of the assemblies.

Talking to newsmen at a dinner here on Thursday after the interview was aired by a private TV channel, Mr Fahim said Ms Bhutto's statement was not a departure from the party’s stated position nor did it indicate that any deal was struck with the government.

He said for the first time, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz also spoke the truth when he rejected the notion of any deal. He declined to comment on the statements of Federal Minister Sher Afghan in this regard and said they were part of a conspiracy to create misunderstanding among the opposition parties.

Asked to comment on Qazi Hussain Ahmed's desire to step down as MMA chief, he said it was their internal matter.

With regard to the APC called by Nawaz Sharif, he said that the matter would be deliberated upon at the ARD level.

Mr Fahim said the PPP was in contact with all its partners in the opposition and was struggling for the empowerment of the marginalised and neglected people and could not even think of coming into power by compromising on their rights and freedom.

Speaking on the occasion, PPP deputy secretary general and leader the opposition in Senate Mina Raza Rabbani slammed the government on the increasing incidents of disappearances.