RAWALPINDI: Mr. Nurul Amin said here today [Nov 19] that the United Coalition Party’s doors were open for coalition with the People’s Party in the efforts to form a representative Government in the country. …Mr. Nurul Amin said that he had no objection to Mr. Bhutto’s demand that if the Prime Minister was taken from East Pakistan the President should be a politician from West Pakistan. Asked if it would be possible to accommodate the People’s Party Programme with a coalition Government, headed by the UCP, he said it had already been agreed that “fundamentals of all the parties will be adhered to”.

… Making it clear that the possibility of his association with the proposed Government was not discussed by him with the President this morning, Mr. Nurul Amin said that his party would accept the responsibility of forming a Government if it achieves a majority in the National Assembly — even if the People’s Party refuses to join the coalition.

However, he said: “Our position is not certain. We do not know how many seats we will get in the by-elections. So, we cannot say our party will be in majority in the National Assembly.” Besides, he said, the qualified Awami League members would also be an important factor. — Newspaper’s special representative

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2021