March 22, 2007	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 2, 1428

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HARIPUR, March 21: Chief of his own faction of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, Senator Maulana Sami-ul-Haq has said that the divided opposition is in fact helping the present setup strengthen its grip on the power.

Talking to reporters here on Tuesday evening, Maulana Sami said that an interim setup and a reconstituted Election Commission were the only solution to the present crisis.

“Lack of consensus among opposition parties on a single point is indicative of their hidden support to the Musharraf-led government,” he said, adding that the Nawaz-Benazir meeting would hardly produce desired results as they were not sincere to each other.

He said that he was the founding member of the MMA but failed to protect the conglomerate of religious parties from being hijacked. “I repent of what I had done,” he said and admitted that the issue of LFO and resignations had damaged the cause of the MMA and left it ineffective.

In reply to a question, Maulana Sami said that he had not yet decided to be part of the MMA during the coming election.

Asked if he could see an imminent change in the present setup, he said that conspirators, who were in the ranks of supporters of Gen Musharraf, made him to commit blunder after blunder which suggested that days of present government had been numbered. He denied that the religious force or any political party was conspiring against Gen Musharraf but hinted that some agencies were behind the crisis.

Haripur Tehsil Nazim Iftikhar Ahmed Khan, District Bar President Nawaz Khan Swati, MMA’s district president Syed Lal Shah and Mansehra district naib nazim Mufti Kifiat Ullah were present on the occasion.