KARACHI, Sept 4: The chief of the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional, Pir Pagara, stated on Tuesday that it is time for President Gen Pervez Musharraf to take important decisions to ensure stability and order in the country.

Talking to journalists after meeting former prime minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali at Kingri House, and having earlier met the general secretary of the PPP’s Sindh chapter, Nafees Siddiqui, Pir Pagara said that the government had no need to cut a “deal” since it was itself an authority. “If the talks are in the country’s interest, the results would be before us,” he opined.

Asked about the elections, the spiritual leader of the Hur Jamaat countered by questioning the support on the basis of which the government would go into elections. “The ruling PML is disintegrating and the role of Chaudhry Shujaat is over,” he commented. “The government ought to pay attention to its own party because the outcome of elections held in the current situation would be a parliament that is worse than the present one.”

“As far as martial law is concerned, people would themselves hear the noise of the boots and I would either see it on TV or a friend would inform me,” he said, while forecasting bad days for Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim.

Pir Pagara advised politicians not to return to the country and added that his advice to plunderers was the same: “Leave the country.”

Asked whether an alliance is with former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was possible for organising a united Muslim League, Pir Pagara said that there are only two Muslim Leagues — the Functional League and Nawaz League, since members of the Muslim League-Q are joining either the PPP or the PML-N. “We are not in a hurry for PML unity,” he said. “It depends on when Nawaz Sharif takes the initiative.”

Meanwhile, former prime minister Mr Jamali recalled that every general who has come to power has run the country’s affairs with the Muslim League’s support. General Ayub , General Ziaul Haq and now General Musharraf survived with PML support, he said, but during the current rule, the open support given by General Musharraf to the PML-Q is unprecedented. Therefore, PML-Q leaders must now sacrifice their interests for forming a united PML, he commented.

Mr Jamali expressed the view that “if cases are to be withdrawn, they should be withdrawn against all people against whom they are registered, not just particular persons.”

PPP leader Nafees Siddiqui said that he had held informal talks with Pir Pagara, with the discussion including their on-going dialogue with the government. He added that the ball lay in the government’s court since the PPP had presented its conditions.