LAHORE, Nov 14: The Pakistan People’s Party has received a positive response from other opposition parties to its proposal of forging a united front to force Gen Pervez Musharraf to quit as president and transfer power to the people, a central PPP leader said on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters outside the residence of PPP Senator Latif Khosa where former prime minister Benazir Bhutto remains under detention, PPP leader Rehman Malik said Ms Bhutto was now trying to evolve an anti-Musharraf consensus on bare minimum agenda of his removal.

“The PPP has got a very positive response from other parties and things should be falling in place in the next few weeks,” he said.

Ms Bhutto changed her earlier stance about President Gen Musharraf hours after the Punjab government detained her for seven days under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order to prevent her from leading her party’s pro-democracy long march to Islamabad.

She demanded that Gen Musharraf step down as president and said she would not work with him even if he hanged up his military uniform. Though she had been urging him to take off uniform, she has never demanded that he should step down as president.

The change in her stance has been welcomed by all major opposition parties, including the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), the Jamaat-i-Islami and the Awami National Party, none of them has given a commitment to join the proposed alliance.

Mr Malik said the PPP would not become part of caretaker set-up and was inching towards a national alliance against the emergency rule and restrictions on the media and the judiciary. He claimed that it “is all over” as far as the PPP’s dialogue with Gen Musharraf for ensuring fair, free and transparent elections for a smooth transition to full democracy was concerned.

On the contrary, he said, the PPP would continue fighting for democracy, constitution and rule of law. “It is also inviting other political forces to the same agenda and getting a very encouraging response.”

Mr Malik was hopeful that the ongoing protest movement (long march) would snowball into a mass movement. Grilling the ruling PML, he said it was scared of the PPP and did not want it to launch its election campaign in Punjab. “The PML is free to hold public meetings and rallies while other parties, particularly the PPP, are being kept from mobilising the masses,” he said.

Benazir Bhutto, meanwhile, remained under detention at the residence of Senator Latif Khosa, with the police manning all arteries leading up to the house. Some other leaders kept popping in and out of the house and talking to the media.

Atmosphere around the house was calmer on Wednesday than it was on previous day as no worker attempted to reach the place or court arrest and the police manned the area in a rather perfunctory manner. Rumours were rife that the house arrest might end late Wednesday night, but there was no such report till our going into press.