ISLAMABAD, Jan 27: The fourth round of talks between the People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on the proposed multi-party conference to be held in London ended with no breakthrough as the PPP refused to confirm the participation of Benazir Bhutto in it, sources told Dawn.
“Despite our repeated requests, the PPP leaders did not suggest any date for the proposed MPC and remained non-committal on the issue of Ms Bhutto’s participation in it,” said a senior PML-N leader after Saturday’s meeting.
Both the PPP and the PML-N leaders tried to avoid the media but eventually agreed on a briefing. It was evident that the deadlock still persisted on who would host the event, its date and the participation of Ms Bhutto.
The PPP delegation was headed by the party’s president, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, and comprised opposition leader in Senate Raza Rabbani, secretary-general Raja Pervez Ashraf, information secretary Sherry Rehman, and Senator Enver Baig. The PML-N team comprised the party’s secretary-general Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, information secretary Ahsan Iqbal, MNA Khawaja Saad Rafiq and president of party's Islamabad chapter Dr Tariq Chaudhry. The team was led by party chairman Raja Zafarul Haq.
Mr Jhagra read a statement claiming that the two parties had agreed to continue consultations on the agenda with component parties of the ARD and other opposition parties. He said it had been decided that the PPP’s Nafees Siddiqui would be the joint candidate of the ARD in the by-election on a vacant National Assembly seat.
He reminded the newsmen that the PPP had handed over a 36-point paper to the chief election commissioner on Thursday.
The opposition leaders evaded questions regarding hosting of the MPC and the possibility of Ms Bhutto's participation. Mr Fahim and Mr Haq claimed that there had been a "considerable progress" and they would soon announce the date for the MPC.
The sources said the PML-N leaders also protested over the move of the PPP to meet the CEC from the party platform instead of the ARD.
Mr Sharif wants to hold the MPC in London next month while the PPP has called for convening it from the platform of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD).
The PPP Chairperson Ms Bhutto is reluctant to attend the MPC due to the participation of the religious parties in it. The PPP, the sources said, also believed that the MPC was being convened before time and it should be held once the government comes out with its plan of President Musharraf's re-election.
According to sources, the main reason of the PPP’s reluctance was the hardline stance adopted by some leaders like Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Imran Khan and even Nawaz Sharif, who have hinted at boycotting polls under Gen Musharraf. They said the PPP did not want to repeat the mistake, it committed in 1985 when it was a part of the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD) and announced boycott of the non-party polls under military ruler Gen Ziaul Haq.
Sources said the decision that Ms Bhutto would not attend the MPC was actually taken by the senior party leadership in a meeting held in Dubai on Jan 9. The party decided at that time not to make a formal announcement of the decision and to refer the matter to the party's CEC for this purpose which endorsed the decision on Jan 20, though it was not officially announced.
