March 10, 2007	Saturday	Safar 20, 1428

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LAHORE, March 9: The PPP will not stay away from the next elections even if they are held in the presence of Gen Pervez Musharraf, highly-placed party sources said on Friday.

The seven-point agenda for the multi-party conference approved by the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy at its meeting in Islamabad on Thursday seeks fresh elections under a national consensus government ‘minus’ Gen Musharraf.

Sources said the PPP and the PML-N had different points of view on the subject, although the party representatives had preferred not to raise the issue at Thursday’s meeting as it could have been interpreted as a move to sabotage the MPC.

“We want the present setup to go as they are adept in rigging, and free and fair elections are not possible in their presence. But this doesn’t mean that if General Musharraf doesn’t quit the PPP will boycott the polls,” sources said.

They said the PML-N had personal enmity with Gen Musharraf and it was for this reason it was insisting that the opposition parties should not contest the elections in his presence. But, they said, the PPP would not like to repeat the mistake it had made in 1985 by boycotting the elections along with other parties of the then opposition alliance, the MRD.

Asked if the opposition parties had any plan to launch a movement to dislodge Gen Musharraf, the PPP sources said only the United States or the family members of the general were in a position to force him to quit. They said for the time being the PPP did not see any possibility of the general leaving the scene.

The sources said the chief and the provincial election commissioners had failed to get their orders implemented and, thus, did not have the confidence of the opposition parties.

ARD chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim called on Ms Benazir Bhutto in Dubai on Friday evening and exchanged views on the prevailing political situation in the country.

Separately talking to Dawn, PML-N Secretary-General Iqbal Zafar Jhagra said most of the opposition parties believed that free and fair polls were not possible in the presence of the present setup, especially Gen Musharraf. But, he said, all opposition parties would jointly decide at the MPC as to what strategy should be devised in case the general was still in power. He said the idea of launching a movement against the general would also come under discussion.

Jhagra said in case the opposition parties succeeded in bringing in a new setup, they would like the enforcement of the Charter of Democracy at the earliest.