ISLAMABAD, July 24: Secretary-General of the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) Raja Pervez Ashraf on Monday said a meeting of all opposition parties would be held in the federal capital in the next three to four days to finalise the strategy for moving a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in the National Assembly.

Speaking at a news conference with PPP Women Wing Islamabad President Nargis Faiz Malik, Mr Ashraf said the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) was in consultation with other opposition parties and in the next meeting, the opposition leaders would also finalise a date for submission of the no- confidence motion and hopefully it would be submitted before the commencement of next session on August 4.

Responding to a question, Mr Ashraf expressed the hope that all other opposition parties would support the ARD’s move of no- confidence motion.

He said there was no question of success or failure of the motion. He said the purpose of moving the motion was to register the opposition’s protest over the corruption being committed by the rulers.

Mr Ashraf once again reiterated that PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto would return to the country before the next general elections. He said the opposition was not against the institution of Pakistan Army, but against a few generals who were defaming the national institution only to stay in power.

He said the Charter of Democracy, signed by the ARD, would stop the army’s intervention in politics. Mr Ashraf said if Gen Musharraf attempted to get himself re-elected from the present parliament, the opposition parties would resign and come out of the parliament.

“We will resist any move towards re-election of Gen Musharraf with full force,” he said.

The PPP secretary-general said the Supreme Court’s verdict in the Pakistan Steel Mills privatisation case had exposed the government’s flawed privatisation policy. He said in his address to the nation, Gen Musharraf did not tell the people the names of those behind sugar crisis, stock market scam, cement crisis and privatisation of the Pakistan Steel Mills.