ISLAMABAD, April 16: Pakistan Muslim League, NWFP (Forward bloc) has supported the much-talked about deal with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and stressed that the PML and PPP should contest the forthcoming general elections from a single platform.

“If the other political parties can sit together to discuss issues, why cannot the PML hold a dialogue with the PPP,” the NWFP PML President (Forward bloc), Haji Olas Khan Khalil, said this while speaking at a news briefing, here on Monday.

He was flanked by Gul Khan Jadoon Advocate, Raja Mudassar Owais Advocate and other office-bearers. He said nobody could deny the fact that the PPP was the largest political party of the country, having roots in the masses.

He demanded of President Gen Pervez Musharraf to ensure that the two parties contested the ensuing elections as allies to achieve a 100 per cent victory.

He criticized Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz for what he called his insane policies and held him responsible for the existing judicial crisis. He said the President had to send a reference to the Supreme Judicial Council, when he was so advised by the Prime Minister.

He said it was unjust to blame President Musharraf for the whole affair, adding that the Prime Minister was fully involved in the preparation of the reference. He appealed to the President to withdraw the reference against the Chief Justice. “Still there is time to withdraw the reference to make sure that the situation does not aggravate any more,” he remarked.

He said the PML Chief, Nawaz Sharif, had no face to talk about the independence of the judiciary. He said the people still remembered what he did to remove the then Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah from office.

He said the PML had practically ceased to exist in the NWFP and accused Saleem Saifullah of harming the party.

He said the minister for political affairs, Amir Muqam, was not a Muslim Leaguer and was still in contact with Qazi Hussain Ahmad and Maulana Fazlur Rahman and demanded that an ideological Muslim Leaguer be appointed as President of the party in the NWFP.

He claimed that a forward bloc of the PML in the centre would be formed shortly, under the leadership of Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali and Syed Kabir Ali Wasti was the most likely candidate for the position of secretary general of the party.