October 09, 2007	Tuesday	Ramazan 26, 1428

LAHORE, Oct 8: The option of boycotting forthcoming general election is on the table of the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM), says PML-N foreign affairs coordinator Muhammad Mahdi.

The PML-N is the single largest component of the APDM formed on July 11 in London on the initiative of the party’s leader former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

Mr Mahdi recalls the proposal had been taken up by the multi-party conference hosted by the PML-N in London on July 7 and except the PPP and the JUI-F all the parties had supported it.

He says the proposal had not been dropped and may be discussed in the next APDM meeting scheduled to be held after Eidul Fitr.

The meeting will also decide dates for the next public meetings against the current dispensation, he says, adding the venues for these meetings will be Karachi and Peshawar.

The alliance has already held meetings at Quetta and Rawalpindi as part of its mass-contact drive. The next two meetings were delayed due to its engagement in arranging reception for Mr Sharif who landed at Islamabad airport on Sept 10 only to be deported again to Saudi Arabia.

Asked if the APDM opted for not boycotting the polls, would the PML-N nominate its members for the caretaker government to be set up under the law for holding the elections as the existing assemblies complete their tenure on Nov 15?

“No way,” replied Mr Mahdi. “We don’t accept Gen Musharraf (as head of state) and unlike the PPP don’t want to keep any back channel contacts with him.”

He said the PML-N, if decided so, would take part in the polls as a protest as it had done in the 2002 elections.

Replying to a query about the benefit the PML-N is likely to gain as a result of the recently promulgated National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), he said his party wanted revoking of the law instead of profiting from it.

He alleged that the NRO had been promulgated to accomplish American agenda in the region as Gen Musharraf and PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto were joining hands for the same purpose.