June 24, 2007	Sunday	Jamadi-us-Sani 08, 1428

SAHIWAL, June 23: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) would disassociate from the Balochistan and the NWFP governments if the PPP chairperson gives assurance to join the grand opposition alliance.

Punjab MMA president Liaquat Baloch stated this in a press conference at the Jamia Ulema-i-Sharia, Sahiwal, on Saturday.

Ms Bhutto should host the multi-party conference of the ARD as participation of Raza Rabbani and Makhdoom Amin Faheem would not solve the issue, he added.

He claimed that Ms Bhutto was trying to trap Mian Nawaz Sharif.

According to him, the only solution to the present crisis was the restoration of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

He said a national government of consensus and an independent election commission were the prerequisites of free and fair election.

JUP information secretary Pir Ejaz Hashmi, Maulana Munawar Ali Khan, Mufti Muhammad Usman, Qari Abubakr and others said the warm welcome accorded to the CJP from Lahore to Okara was a referendum against the rulers. They advised President Musharraf to quit.

PML-N: Meanwhile, Punjab PML-N president Zulfiqar Khosa and general secretary Raja Ashfaq Sarwar in a press conference on Saturday stated that former Mian Nawaz Sharif was convincing the PPP chairperson to attend the APC.

They expressed the hope that the MMA would disassociate from the Balochistan government.

The PPP chairperson should understand that the issue of Salman Rushdie was not political but religious. They said the ARD would not enter into any dialogue with the rulers.

They alleged that the present rulers have started rigging by removing the names of millions of eligible voters belonging to opposition political parties from the voters’ lists. Later, Mr Khosa addressed the party workers present at a camp set up to welcome the CJP at Mazdoor Pully.

He expressed the hope that the lawyers struggle for the independence of judiciary would succeed.