LAHORE, Oct 2: The opposition parties are unable to launch a movement against the government as they have no issue to exploit, minister of state for culture, sports and youth affairs Muhammad Ali Durrani says.

Talking to reporters here on Sunday, he said the PPP, the PML-N and the MMA leaders were in contact with the government and thus there was no possibility that they would be able to bring the people on the streets.

He said the PPP and the PML-N had nobody in their ranks who could lead the two parties and there were differences among the MMA components. In such a situation, he said the government faced no threat at the hands of the opposition parties.

Answering a question, Mr Durrani said the possibility of some important PML-N leaders joining the ruling party could not be ruled out.

He recalled that the ARD and the MMA had made separate and joint efforts in the past to launch a movement, but had failed to mobilize people as they had no issue to exploit and no offer to make.

He said these parties would again fail if they tried to create any problem for the government.

Mr Durrani said the government was determined to hold the elections in 2007 and the opposition parties could not get the schedule advanced through pressure tactics. Instead of wasting energies and time on abortive movements, the opposition parties should prepare themselves for the general elections, he said.

He predicted that because of the absence of their leaders, the PPP and the PML-N would get much weaker by the time the next elections were held.

The minister said the president, the prime minister and the parliament were working within their respective jurisdictions. All important decisions, he said, were taken by the cabinet, although they were announced by the president at an appropriate time.

He said the initiative of announcing decisions on various important issues, specially the ones which could have repercussions at the international level, was left to President Musharraf because of his experience and capability to handle sensitive matters.

Mr Durrani said it was wrong to assume that the cabinet or the parliament had no role in decision making.

According to him, it was Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz who had called his Turkish counterpart for a meeting between the foreign ministers of Pakistan and Israel. The Turkish premier, he said, had been requested to keep the matter secret till the meeting had taken place as a leak could harm the cause.

Mr Durrani said some cabinet decisions were kept secret because of the sensitivity of their nature.