ISLAMABAD, Oct 24: Pakistan Muslim League president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has dismissed as unreasonable PPP’s demand for a major share in the interim government.
Talking to newsmen after launching his party’s election campaign at the PML secretariat here on Wednesday, he rejected an impression created by the media that the Pakistan People’s Party would get a major share in the caretaker set-up.
He told a questioner that the government had invited all political parties to an APC to formulate a code of conduct for the general elections, but no positive response had so far been received from them.
Chaudhry Shujaat said that the government would not accept all the demands of any one party and would consult other political parties as well on the formation of the caretaker set-up.
Responding to a question about alleged involvement of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in efforts to put together a caretaker government, the PML chief said that President General Pervez Musharraf, and not any agency, would take a final decision on the issue.
He criticised Benazir Bhutto’s demand for involving foreign agencies in the Karachi blast probe and said she had returned home after negotiating with the intelligence agencies but now she was expressing no-trust in them.
The PML president said Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal secretary general Maulana Fazlur Rahman would have a key role in the next government.
Answering a question about the possibility of reunification with the PML (Nawaz) or entering into an electoral alliance with it, Chaudhry Shujaat said although the return of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif depended on the decision taken by the Saudi government or President Musharraf, his party was ready to initiate a dialogue with his party.He said an understanding could be reached with the PML (N) before or after the polls.
Chaudhry Shujaat said his party would contest the coming elections on the five-year performance of its government.
A large number of senior party leaders and federal ministers, including Chaudhry Shujaat himself, formally applied for the party ticket for the polls.
Those who submitted applications included Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri, Ijazul Haq, Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Maqbool Sheikh, Hamid Nasir Chattha, Mian Manzoor Wattoo, Zubaida Jalal, Rana Tariq Javed, Wasi Zafar, Sahid Akram Bhinder and Zahid Hamid.
