SUKKUR, Dec 7: People’s Party Parliamentarians MNA Syed Khurshid Ahmad Shah has said that his party will not boycott the National Assembly’s Dec 18 session which has been called to discuss the constitutional amendments package.

Talking to journalists here on Sunday, he said that component parties of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy would not take part in the voting on the constitutional package, prepared by a negotiating team of the government and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal.

If the package was approved, the ARD would evolve a strategy against the Legal Framework Order and launch a movement against the president, Mr Shah said.

He hoped that the MMA would not join the government despite supporting the bill but, he added, if it did so, the ARD would continue its struggle.

The PPP leader claimed that the MMA wanted to resolve the LFO issue as it feared its government in the NWFP would be toppled as the military government could make hurdles in its smooth running.

Answering a question, he said that President Gen Pervez Musharraf would not dissolve parliament as he himself had created it.

Responding to another question, he said that PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto had warned of a deal between the rulers and the MMA as the alliance was likely to be used by the government for its own purpose.

He said that the fears were now becoming true.

He said that Ms Bhutto had asked the rulers to allow her and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) leader Nawaz Sharif to participate in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation conference where important decisions were likely to be taken.

DEGREE CHALLENGED: A member of the central committee of the People’s Party Parliamentarians, Imran Khan Bijarani, has sent a memorandum to the Election Commission of Pakistan, challenging the degree of MNA Saleem Jan Mazari.