PESHAWAR, Aug 16: The People’s Party Parliamentarians says it will not strike a political deal with President Gen Pervez Musharraf merely for the sake of power-sharing, as is being propagated by some “government-friendly opposition groups”.

Speaking at a news conference at the press club here on Thursday, PPP chief for NWFP Rahimdad Khan said his party had always sided with the people, who were the fountainhead of political power.

“The PPP believes in the might of the masses, instead of using the crutches of dictators for coming to power. And it will retain its political independence and identity as a party of the downtrodden,” he maintained.

He welcomed Arbab Muneerullah Khan’s act of joining the PPP, saying this would strengthen the party and help it win the upcoming elections.

Mr Rahimdad claimed that genuine political workers had no option but to join the PPP, which had always struggled for a federal democratic dispensation. He hoped that Arbab Muneer and his colleagues would work for the betterment of the people, restoration of democracy and rule of law.

Arbab Muneer has resigned as general secretary of the Peshawar chapter of the PPP (Sherpao) and joined the People’s Party Parliamentarians. According to him, only the PPP could steer Pakistan out of the existing crises and bring prosperity to the country. He said the PPP was a legacy of the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who had inculcated a sense of equality and fair play in the masses.

MPA Iftikhar Jhagra, MPA Syed Zahir Ali Shah, Fareed Toofan and party workers were present on the occasion.

Mr Rahimdad said people were joining the PPP in hordes because the regime and its religious allies in two provinces had failed to resolve their basic problems. He said Charsadda District Nazim Naseer Mohammad Khan joined the PPP on Wednesday. In Lakki Marwat, a former inspector general of police, Diljan Khan, had joined the party.

He said PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto had been calling for holding free, fair and transparent elections under a neutral and caretaker government. He said Gen Pervez Musharraf was not acceptable to the party as president in military uniform.

He said the PPP was trying to save the federation from disaster.

He dispelled the impression that workers had been ignored during distribution of party tickets in the province.