ISLAMABAD, March 19: The People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) has decided not to attend any meeting convened by the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) on the issue of the ongoing judicial crisis.
“We want to keep ourselves away from the MMA as we are a separate entity,” former senator Farhatullah Babar, spokesman for PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto told Dawn on Monday.
Mr Babar said as a member of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD), the PPP would attend all meetings called by the ARD in connection with the judicial crisis and it would also play its role in defending the judiciaryindependence.
We want to show the world that alternatives for (leadership of) Pakistan are not only Gen Musharraf and the religious parties, Mr Babar said, adding that the PPP would attend meetings called by the ARD to keep the moderate option alive. The PPP wishes to make a distinction between those in the government and those not, Mr Babar said in an obvious allusion to the MMA, a coalition partner of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League in Balochistan.
Commenting on press reports that the PPP had not attended a meeting of all the opposition parties called by the PML-N on Saturday, Mr Babar said the PPP would continue to work with the PML-N through the ARD.
Mr Babar said the lawyers’ wing of the party had rendered unprecedented sacrifices in the present struggle.
The pro-PPP president of Islamabad Bar Association was injured and in a critical state in hospital while another pro-PPP lawyer, Senator Latif Khosa, had been the first to suffer head injuries.
