February 14, 2007	Wednesday	Muharram 25, 1428

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

ISLAMABAD, Feb 13: The People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) on Tuesday sought one-week time from the Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) to come up with its proposal for a joint declaration on the multi-party conference (MPC) proposed by PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif in London.

Talking to Dawn after his meeting with PPP leaders Raza Rabbani and Dr Safdar Abbasi at the Parliament House here, PML-N information secretary Ahsan Iqbal said the PPP leaders had sought the time to discuss some important points with their senior leaders.

It may be recalled that the PPP and the PML-N had decided to revive the four-member committee, which drafted the Charter of Democracy signed by the two parties last year, to formulate the MPC declaration.

Opposition Leader in the Senate Mian Raza Rabbani and Senator Dr Safdar Abbasi had represented the PPP and Senator Ishaq Dar and Ahsan Iqbal the PML-N in the committee that formulated the famous charter signed by Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif last May and then by heads of all the component parties of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) in July last year.

Senator Ishaq Dar was not present in the Tuesday’s meeting and Mr Iqbal expressed the hope that he would attend the next one scheduled for February 20.

Mr Sharif is willing to hold an MPC in London to formulate a joint strategy for all opposition parties regarding the forthcoming general elections.

However, the PPP leaders expressed their displeasure over, what they termed, a unilateral move and called for convening the MPC from the ARD platform.

According to sources, the PPP chairperson is reluctant to attend the MPC due to the participation of religious parties in it. The PPP also believes that the MPC is being convened before time and it should be held once the government come out with its plan of President Pervez Musharraf’s re-election.

Mr Iqbal said Nawaz Sharif had invited heads of 34 political parties to the MPC and except for the PPP, all the parties had showed their consent to participate in the conference.

He expressed the hope that PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto would also attend the MPC and would not make its hosting an issue.

He said the PML-N took the initiative of arranging the MPC as the party considered itself a neutral platform for all other opposition parties.

For example, he said, the PML-N had been playing an active role in bringing the ARD and the MMA closer to each other.

The PML-N leader claimed that there had been a consensus between the PPP and the PML-N on basic issues, with both parties firmly believing that polls could not be held in free and fair manners under Gen Musharraf.

He made it clear that the nation would not pardon the party, which would create differences within the opposition ranks and strengthen Gen Musharraf’s hold on power.

Mr Iqbal said the opposition was in a position to oust Gen Musharraf from power, provided it united on one platform.

He said the federation of Pakistan would be in danger, if next elections were made controversial. He predicted that the next elections would be held in a free and fair manner as Gen Musharraf would not be in the picture by that time.

The PML-N leader said the remaining differences between the PPP and his party would be removed in a meeting between Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto expected in London in the third week of this month.