September 16, 2007	Sunday	Ramazan 03, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Sept 15: Opposition leaders belonging to the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) will be meeting here on Sunday to devise a strategy for stopping President Gen Pervez Musharraf from getting himself re-elected in uniform from the present assemblies.

This will be the first grand meeting of the opposition parties after the deportation of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to Saudi Arabia on Sept 10.

Talking to Dawn, MMA leader Liaquat Baloch and PML-N secretary-general Iqbal Zafar Jhagra said the main item on the agenda of the meeting was finalisation of the strategy for the “expected” presidential elections.

Both Mr Baloch and Mr Jhagra said the APDM had already announced that it would use all options, including resigning from assemblies, if Gen Musharraf tried to get himself re-elected from the present assemblies. However, when Mr Baloch said that they “could” resign, Mr Jhagra said they would “definitely” resign from the assemblies to stop Gen Musharraf’s election.

Mr Jhagra said the APDM leaders would make any decision keeping in mind that Gen Musharraf’s uniform had already been challenged in the Supreme Court. He said for the time being, they could not tell as to when they should resign as so far the Election Commission of Pakistan had not even announced the schedule for the president’s election. Moreover, he said, there was a possibility that Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman would not be present in the Sunday’s meeting as he was currently in Saudi Arabia.

Mr Baloch, however, expressed the hope that Maulana Fazlur Rehman would arrive in the country before the meeting.

Sources told Dawn that the APDM leaders would also review the political situation in the country particularly after the deportation of Mr Sharif.

They said the APDM leaders were concerned over the poor response of workers and general public over their call to come out on streets to receive Mr Sharif on Sept 10.