June 18, 2007	Monday	Jumadi-us-Sani 02, 1428

LAHORE, June 17: Mian Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo, senior-vice president of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML), proposed on Sunday the government find an out-of-court settlement of the presidential reference against Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry as any judgment by the Supreme Court — in favour of the respondent or against him — would not help improve the situation.

Talking to reporters, he said the government should review its decision of filing another reference against the CJP.

The proposal is significant as Mr Wattoo is also a member of the PML’s policy planning group and has been meeting with President Pervez Musharraf.

Mr Wattoo said although the CJP’s affidavit and counter-affidavits by the president’s aides had diminished the chances of reconciliation, he would press an out-of-court settlement.

Mr Wattoo, also former Punjab chief minister, said nobody would be winner or loser in the reference issue.

He said even the SC was aware of the importance of a settlement along the lines proposed by him. Justice Khalil Ramday, heading a 13-judge bench hearing the case, had also asked government’s lawyer Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada to find a way out, he said. He underlined the need for a dialogue with the CJP, lawyers and political parties to defuse the situation.

He said he was agreed with PML General Secretary Mushahid Husain Syed’s statement that the judicial crisis would not have aggravated if the powers-that-be had consulted him and PML President Chaudhry Shujaat Husain.

The PML leader predicted the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), PML-Nawaz and Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf would forge an electoral alliance in the months ahead.

To defeat the proposed alliance in the polls, he said, moderate forces like the ruling PML and the PPP of Benazir Bhutto should also get united. He said the division of moderate votes would cause an irreparable loss to enlightened moderation. About the repeated statements by the PML president that cooperation between the two ideological rivals – the ruling PML and the PPP — was not possible, he said in politics there were no permanent friends or foes.

He said if PML-N Quaid Mian Nawaz Sharif and Ms Bhutto could forget their past, why Mr Husain and Ms Bhutto could not join hands.

Mr Wattoo supported the PML secretary-general’s proposal for an all-party conference to discuss matters concerning the elections and interim government.

Interpreting Ms Bhutto’s statement that her party would not support Gen Musharraf if he got himself re-elected from present assemblies or if he tried to retain his uniform, the PML leader said this showed the PPP would be willing to support the general if he sought re-election from new assemblies.

He said the PPP chairperson had said in an interview she could hold talks with the ruling party provided Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri, Kashmir Committee Chairman Hamid Nasir Chattha and Mr Wattoo were involved in the process. This meant that the self-exiled former prime minister had not closed the doors for talks, he said.

Asked if he supported Gen Musharraf’s re-election from present assemblies, Mr Wattoo said the constitution did not stop the general from doing so but it would not be morally justifiable to ask for a fresh mandate from the legislatures who were about to complete their five-year term.