LAHORE, Sept 9: After the success of a strike, the opposition can resort to public meetings, rallies and resignations from the assemblies. Speaking at a press conference here on Friday, the opposition representatives — sans the PPP — were unanimous that people had given a verdict against Gen Musharraf’s policies and rigging in the local elections.

Punjab PML-N secretary-general Zaeem Qadri, flanked by MMA’s Amirul Azim and PTI secretary information Omar Sarfraz Cheema, said the movement would continue till the dislodging of the present regime.

The PPP representative was conspicuous by his absence, but Mr Qadri tried to cover up things by saying that he could not make it to the press conference because it was called hurriedly.

He also claimed the government had arrested over 100 of its workers in its failed attempt to frustrate the strike.

He said the steering committee of the opposition comprising Raja Zafarul Haq, Amin Fahim, Qazi Husain Ahmad and Imran Khan would soon decide about any of the above-mentioned moves to dislodge Gen Musharraf. He said the success of the strike reflected people’s lack of confidence in the general’s theory of enlightened moderation.

He said the opposition had undertaken the struggle for restoring the rule of law, parliament’s supremacy and sanctity of the ballot box, which, he said, had been trampled to the hilt in the local polls.

He said the reports coming in from Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Lahore, Multan, Sargodha, Sialkot, Gujrat, Jhang, Jhelum, Bahawalpur, Rawalpindi and Mandi Bahauddin revealed that people had completely endorsed the strike call. He said the government failed to influence people and stop the strike despite the use of police.

Amirul Azeem said it was for the first time that the people completely accepted opposition’s request and went for a complete strike.