QUETTA, Feb 15: Pakistan Muslim League-N’s secretary-general Iqbal Zafar Jhagra has ruled out any possibility of his party holding talks with the government.
He was addressing a press conference here on Thursday at the conclusion of his two-day visit to Balochistan.
Terming the government undemocratic and dictatorial, he said that the PML-N would not make any compromise on people’s democratic rights.
He was accompanied by the party’s provincial president Sardar Yaqoob Khan Nasar and general secretary Ayaz Khan Swati.
“There is no possibility of holding talks with General Musharraf and his undemocratic government on any issue,” Mr Jhagra said.
He denied reports about differences between People’s Party Parliamentarians and the PML-N on holding a multi-party conference in London and said that such reports were part of the government’s misinformation campaign. He said that the PPP had agreed to hold the conference to work out a joint strategy to remove the government.
The PML-N’s secretary general said that the conference would discuss ways and means to restore the 1973 Constitution and real democracy, establish an independent judiciary and election commission and the formation of a national consensus government to hold free, fair and transparent elections.
He said that 35 opposition parties, including the PPPP and the MMA, had agreed to attend the conference. He said that all parties would be extended invitations soon.
Mr Jhagra said that he had held a series of meetings with leaders of different political parties and discussed with them the conference’s agenda, adding that he and Sardar Yaqoob Khan Nasar had visited Wadh and conveyed an important massage from Nawaz Sharif to Sardar Ataullah Mengal.
He said that Sardar Mengal had assured them about the participation of his party’s representative. He said he had also met with Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo, secretary-general of the National Party, and Nawabzada Talal Bugti of the Jamhoori Watan Party and they had also expressed their willingness to attend the conference.Referring to the restoration of democracy, the ARD leader said that one of the main issues to be discussed in the APC would be how to stop army’s interference in political affairs and strengthen the democratic system in the country. “All opposition parties agree about stopping army’s interference in political government,” Mr Jhagra said, adding that they want the army to concentrate only on its duty to protect the country’s frontiers.
He said that the people of Punjab had also protested against the military operation in Balochistan and the killing of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti. He said that all opposition parties, including leaders from Punjab, had condemned the military operation.
QUETTA, Feb 15: Pakistan Muslim League-N’s secretary-general Iqbal Zafar Jhagra has ruled out any possibility of his party holding talks with the government.
