August 20, 2008	Wednesday	Sha’aban 17, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Aug 19: The Pakistan Muslim League-Q has announced that it will play the role of a positive but effective opposition in and outside parliament.

The party’s leaders Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Mushahid Hussain Sayed said on Tuesday that the PML-Q would prove its mettle by running its affairs without the support of the establishment and it would work as a watchdog to monitor the performance of what they termed ‘official politicians’.

They were addressing a press conference after a meeting of their party’s central executive committee which discussed the post-Musharraf scenario.

They claimed that Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf had done the best thing by resigning to end the political impasse and deprive the ruling coalition of excuses for its failures by terming him a ‘hurdle’ in its way.

The PML-Q leaders said the attendance in the meeting was overwhelming, contrary to their expectations, which belied their opponents’ claims that the party would disintegrate as soon as it lost ‘official patronage’. Chaudhry Shujaat said the members of CEC had demanded that the crises in Balochistan, Waziristan, Bajaur and Swat should be resolved without further delay.

He said the meeting had also demanded that the judicial crisis be resolved in accordance with the understanding among the coalition partners because the so-called hurdle had been removed.

He said that after the departure of Gen (retd) Musharraf the coalition parties were left with no excuse and they must fulfil the promises they had made to their voters about lowering the prices of essential commodities and reinstating the judges to the pre-Nov 3 position. He said several leaders of the coalition had declared that the judges would be reinstated within 72 hours after Gen (retd) Musharraf’s departure.

He said the PML-Q would give a new hope to the people who were disappointed by the performance of the new regime.

Mushahid Hussain said: “We will see to it that the regime brings back Dr Aafia Siddiqui and accepts its responsibilities to end violence in the tribal areas and resolve the Balochistan issue.”

He said the meeting had decided that Chaudhry Shujaat would continue to lead the party.