August 29, 2008	Friday	Sha'aban 26, 1429

LAHORE, Aug 28: Punjab Senior Minister Raja Riaz said on Thursday that the PPP would wait till Sept 6 for its erstwhile ally PML-N to rejoin the alliance or will exercise other options, including forming a government in cooperation with the PML-Q, forgetting the bitterness of the past.

Talking to Dawn at his residence, he said the PPP would monitor the PML-N attitude till the day of the presidential election, after which it would devise its new policy in accordance with the ground realities.

Asked if the PPP could consider forming a coalition with the PML-Q, the leader from Faisalabad said: “In politics, all options are open. If the PML-N doesn’t return to the fold of the ruling alliance, we can take any decision.”

When it was pointed out that the PPP had branded the PML-Q “Qatil League” after the assassination of Ms Benazir Bhutto on Dec 27, Raja Riaz said: “We want to move ahead, forgetting the bitterness of the past.”

Pushed to the wall, he said, the PPP would fight for its survival.

The minister alleged that the PML-N did not want a stable PPP government in the country as it would dim its prospects of returning to power for several years. The PML-N vested interest lay in a weak and unstable PPP government, he said, but hastened to add that such dreams would never come true.

Raja Riaz said the PML-N wanted to have its own majority in Punjab, “but there is a little chance for them to succeed in this mission.”

He said the PPP wanted to keep its coalition with the PML-N in Punjab intact because both the parties would be in a better position to solve people’s problems. The experiment of archrivals’ forming a coalition was new in Pakistan, Raja Riaz said, adding that its failure would not be good for democracy, country or the people.

The minister said the PPP had not got a chance to form its own government in Punjab during the past three decades. Although expediency demanded that it should be a pure PPP government in the country's biggest province, it was interested in maintaining its alliance with the PML-N.

“For the time being, we are not trying to form our government in Punjab.”

He confirmed reports that the PPP had directed its legislators not to visit the Chief Minister’s Secretariat till the presidential elections.

Explaining the rationale, he said, visits by the PPP lawmakers in the prevailing situation could create misunderstandings. “Maybe, the PML-N seeks their support for their presidential candidate.”

He claimed that of the 86 PML-Q MPAs in the Punjab Assembly, a majority would vote for Zardari in the presidential election.

Raja Riaz alleged that the PML-N leadership was not serious in the reinstatement of the deposed judges. In fact, he said, the PML-N leaders were devoting all their energies to destabilize the system, bring down the PPP popularity graph and get a chance to form its government at the earliest.He said having twice been prime minister of the country, Nawaz Sharif must know the kind of external pressures the governments had to face in situations the country was facing at present because of the judges issue. Even the PML-N would not have been in a position to take the steps its leadership was pressing the PPP to take, he emphasised.

The senior minister said historian would not forgive Nawaz Sharif for breaking alliance with the PPP. He said by splitting up with the PPP, the PML-N had done no service to the country. “It was Nawaz Sharif, not us, who is responsible for enhancing the value of a party (the PML-Q) that has been sitting in Gen Musharraf’s lap for several years.”

He said for unknown reasons Mr Sharif had changed his stand on Mr Zardari’s candidacy for the presidential office.

He recalled that he was present at a meeting when Mr Zardari said that Mian Sahib could be the next president, but the

PML-N chief said it was Mr Zardari’s right to occupy the presidency. “I don’t know why he has changed his mind now. No candidate is better than Mr Zardari as the presidential candidate.”

When it was pointed out that Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf Chairman Imran Khan regarded Mr Zardari as a security risk and as president would be no different from Gen Musharraf, the PPP leader advised the cricketer-turned-politician to focus on sports rather than politics.

Imran Khan, he said, should better set up an academy to train cricketers.

Raja Riaz said a ban on anybody becoming prime minister or chief minister for a third time was alien to democratic system and the PPP would strike down the legislation that imposed it.