Fahim to call ARD meeting soon: PML-N unsure whether to attend
By Ashraf Mumtaz
LAHORE, July 13: PPP-Parliamentarians President Makhdoom Amin Fahim says the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy is intact despite the formation of the All Parties Democratic Movement and he will be calling a meeting of the alliance in a few weeks, leaving it up to component parties whether to participate or stay away.
PML-N Chairman Raja Zafrul Haq agrees that the ARD continues to exist, but is not sure if his party will attend the meeting Mr Fahim plans to convene. “We will take a decision on the subject keeping in view the objective conditions,” a non-committal Raja Zafar said while talking to Dawn on Friday.
Mr Fahim said the ARD and the APDM were separate entities and they would work for their programmes from their own platforms.
He insisted that there was no justification for the PML-N to launch a new alliance at a time when the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal was still part of the PML-led coalition in Balochistan.
Raja Zafar, who has been appointed convener of the joint action committee of the APDM, said the new coalition would work as an umbrella of all alliances in its fold. The ARD, he added, would work separately.
He said if a meeting of the ARD was called, the PML-N would assess the objective conditions and then decide whether to attend.
He complained that the PPP continued its dialogue with the military rulers even after signing the Charter of Democracy, which clearly prohibited such direct or indirect contacts.
Replying to a question, the PML-N leader said Maulana Fazlur Rehman and other legislators of the MMA and parties in the APDM would certainly quit the assemblies if Gen Musharraf tried to get himself re-elected from the present assemblies.
When it was pointed out that in the past Maulana Fazl had not agreed to quit the assemblies despite MMA President Qazi Husain Ahmed's insistence that the time was ripe for such a step to make it difficult for Gen Musharraf to run the system, Raja Zafar said he believed that this time the JUI-F chief would behave differently. “It is a question of strategy. We want to tender resignation at a time when they bring us maximum political benefit.”
He said Maulana Fazl was opposed to the idea of quitting the assemblies when the PPP was holding talks with the government to get a place in the new set-up. Also, he said, the MMA would not like to come out of the elected houses if Gen Musharraf could extend their term by one year under one pretext or another.
Raja Zafar said that although the APDM was not an election alliance its components could go for seat adjustments.
He said for the time being the APDM would be run by a convener, but an organisational structure could be decided at a later stage.
The joint action committee of the APDM is due to meet on July 30.
