ISLAMABAD, Jan 22: The Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) on Monday accepted People's Party Parliamentarians’ suggestion to delay the multi-party conference (MPC), convened by PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif in London next month, saying the delay “could only be for a few weeks and not for an indefinite period”, sources told Dawn.
The PPP had formally requested the PML-N to delay the conference during a meeting with a delegation of the latter held at the PPP Central Secretariat to discuss the issue of the participation of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
The PML-N delegation was headed by the party’s chairman Raja Zafarul Haq and comprised Secretary-General Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, Information Secretary Ahsan Iqbal, Sardar Mahtab Abbasi, Khawja Saad Rafiq and Khawja Asif.
The PPP team comprising Raza Rabbani, Dr Safdar Abbasi, Enver Baig and Raja Pervez Ashraf was led by the party’s President Makhdoom Amin Fahim. It was the third meeting between the leadership of two the parties in one week to discuss the MPC issue.
According to sources in the two parties, PPP leaders apprised the PML-N team about decisions of a joint meeting of the party's Central Executive Committee (CEC) and Federal Council (FC) held on January 20. They said that the CEC and the FC had rejected the idea of the conference being hosted from the PML-N platform and suggested that it be held under the umbrella of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy.
PPP leaders also said that the CEC and the FC had not taken any decision about Benazir Bhutto’s participation because the date of the conference had not yet been finalised.PPP leaders, according to sources, said that they were not against the idea of holding the MPC, but wanted that its agenda and the expected declaration be made clear. On the issue of Benazir Bhutto’s participation, they said that she would be pre-occupied during the dates proposed for the conference and, therefore, would not be able to attend it.
The PML-N leaders replied that they were ready to delay the event for some times in order to ensure Benazir Bhutto's participation.
The PML-N leaders said the MPC could even be held in the first week of March, but could not be extended beyond that. “We cannot delay it for an indefinite period,” one of the PML-N leaders was quoted as telling the PPP leaders.
Both sides agreed to meet again on Wednesday at the residence of PPP Secretary-General Raja Pervez Ashraf after discussing the matter with the heads of their parties.
In a brief chat with a group of newsmen after the meeting, Mr Fahim and Raja Zafar claimed that there were no differences between the two parties.
