LONDON, July 11: A mini-summit of the Multi-Party Conference (MPC) held here on Wednesday launched a sort of a grand alliance, calling it the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM), but minus the PPP.
The PPP went on a solo flight arguing that it was not the right time to organise public rallies the APDM plans to hold in Quetta on August 9 and in Rawalpindi on August 14.
The shaky unity which was demonstrated by the opposition parties at the two-day MPC last weekend when all the participating parties had succeeded in coming up with a consensus document of resolutions did not survive even 72 hours.
In a way it appeared to be a victory of the MMA as it finally succeeded in isolating the PPP from even the nationalist parties which are more vehemently opposed to the agenda of the religious alliance than the PPP.
The development appeared rather logical against the backdrop of Benazir Bhutto’s reported negotiations with Gen Pervez Musharraf for a share in power after the next election.
Briefing the media, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif said the majority of the participants at the summit agreed to form a grand alliance called the All Pakistan Democratic Movement (APDM).
“The PPP delegation which attended the summit disagreed with the decision, but said they would come up with a firm answer after further consultations within the party,” he said.
Sources on both sides asserted that no formal break-up of the ARD had taken place and both camps did not rule out the possibility of joining hands at some future date.
The PPP sources said that in the first place the party had disagreed with the timing of the MPC and, secondly, it held that it was not the right time to announce an action plans.
“But we told them that we will discuss the matter within the party executive and then hold an ARD meeting in Pakistan and if and when we feel the right time has arrived we would review our decision.”
Mr Sharif, flanked by Maulana Fazlur Rehman on his right and Qazi Hussain Ahmed on the left, said a 12-member Joint Action Committee of the APDM headed by Raja Zafarul Haq had been constituted which would meet in Islamabad on July 30 to chalk out the strategy and details of the programme of the country-wide agitation against what he said the military dictatorship.
Mr Sharif was also accompanied at the media briefing by leaders of ANP, MAKP, four members of the ARD, the TI and components of PONM.
Answering a question, Qazi Hussain Ahmed said that if the participants had returned home without taking some action plan, the people at large would have been greatly disappointed.
When Maulana Fazlur Rehman was asked how he could reconcile the fact that his party was a coalition partner in the Balochistan government with the decision of the APDM to hold a protest meeting in Quetta, he said since it was the MMA’s problem, the matter should not worry others.
“We will cross the bridge when we come to it.”
The PPP sources said that the people at large would be even more greatly disappointed if the government of Balochistan, in which the MMA was a partner, were to resist the central leadership's decision to hold a public meeting in Quetta, as everyone knew the hold of Maulana Shirani over the Balochistan JUI and how much he was beholden to Musharraf”.
For any action plan of the opposition to succeed, the sources said, it was essential that it had no participation from somebody who had perfected the art of running with the hare and hunting with the hounds.
“For any agitation to be meaningful, the MMA would have to resign its government seats first.”
When the Maulana answering a question said, the PPP had kept itself out of the APDM perhaps because it did not want to annoy Washington and damage its negotiations with President Gen Musharraf, everyone present burst out laughing.
