March 07, 2007	Wednesday	Safar 17, 1428

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ISLAMABAD, March 6: The Pakistan Muslim League-N has expressed the hope that the opposition will successfully work out a plan for the ouster of the Musharraf-led regime in its multi-party conference in London on March 24-25.

"We spent most of our time today in discussing mechanisms to oust the military regime and the London conference of the opposition parties is a part of it," said PML-N chairman Raja Zafarul Haq while responding to reporters’ questions after a meeting of the party's Central Working Committee (CWC) here on Tuesday.

The party’s secretary general Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, information secretary Ahsan Iqbal, Senator Mahtab Abbasi, former NWFP chief minister Pir Sabir Shah and president of the party's Islamabad chapter Dr Tariq Chaudhry were present on the occasion.

Mr Haq said the MPC being hosted by the PML-N was a timely initiative because it was imperative upon all opposition parties to devise a collective strategy for restoration of democracy in the country.

He said that PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto’s decision of not attending the MPC was an internal matter of the PPP. He said they believed that the PPP delegation, to be nominated by Ms Bhutto, would have the power to take decisions.

He said that invitations for the MPC had been sent to 34 political parties and almost all of them had accepted it.

When asked why was the Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) of the late Nawab Akbar Bugti not attending the MPC despite being a partner of the PML-N in the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD), he said unfortunately the party had been divided into different groups after the killing of Mr Bugti.

Commenting on a statement of a PPP spokesman that Ms Bhutto was sending a party delegation to the MPC only as a "concession" to the PML-N, Mr Haq said his party was grateful to her and to everyone who had accepted the invitation.

Mr Haq said the party's CWC felt that the government was finding escape routes from the election by making a case for postponement of elections.

"The postponement of election will have serious consequences for the nation and will not be permitted," he said, adding that Gen Pervez Musharraf was openly supporting the ‘king's party’ and there could be no fair and free elections under him.

"The only way forward is formation of a national government of consensus to supervise the elections," he said.

The CWC, he said, also felt that as a result of Gen Musharraf’s military dictatorship the federation of the country was facing a serious crisis and all national institutions had become dysfunctional due to the one-man rule.

He said the country could not afford such erosion of institutional governance and the only remedy was the immediate restoration of democratic governance through fair and free elections.

Mr Haq also criticised the government’s foreign policy. The CWC, he said, expressed serious concern over the fresh wave of suicide attacks and incidents of terrorism in the country. "It feels Gen Musharraf was opening new fault lines in the country to project the threat of extremists in Pakistan to justify his staying in power. This is tarnishing the country's image internationally," he said.

The CWC condemned military action in Balochistan and tribal areas against civilians. It demanded immediate release of all political prisoners, including acting party president Javed Hashmi. It demanded that the people of Northern Areas be given the same political rights as enjoyed by the people of Pakistan.