ISLAMABAD, Jan 14: Efforts to form a national government involving major political parties before the Feb 18 election seem to have failed after Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s refusal to become part of any set-up under President Pervez Musharraf.

Several PML-N leaders, including its chief Nawaz Sharif, in their recent statements have rejected the government’s coveted move to launch a reconciliatory process with major opposition parties after the assassination of Pakistan People’s Party leader Benazir Bhutto through the formation of a national government.

It was perhaps due to this negative response from the PML-N leadership that the presidency finally came out on Monday night with a statement saying that reports the national government were “unfounded,” thus ending weeklong speculations.

In a statement released to the media through the government-run news agency, the president’s spokesman, Maj-Gen (retd) Rashid Qureshi, said that the president was committed to holding free, fair and transparent elections on Feb 18 in a peaceful manner under the current set-up. He denied that the president had conveyed any message to PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif regarding formation of a national government through his envoy Brig (retd) Niaz Ahmed in Saturday’s meeting in Islamabad.

Commenting on the meeting, the spokesman said that the two could have met in their private capacity, but “the Presidency has nothing to do with it.”