ISLAMABAD, March 3: A ‘brainstorming’ luncheon meeting of MNAs-elect of the pro-Musharraf coalition comprising PML-Q, MQM, PML-F, NPP and PPP-Sherpao will be held here on Tuesday to chalk out a strategy for defending President Pervez Musharraf against a possible impeachment move as well as how to keep their unity.
The meeting has apparently been convened to match the grand show of the Feb 18 election’s winning parties last week in which 171 MNAs had participated.
The meeting could be a turning point in the ‘save the president campaign’, which has been launched by Musharraf loyalists as all eyes would be set on the attitude of the component parties as well as the number of lawmakers-elect who choose to attend or prefer to stay away.
The organisers of the meeting, the PML-Q, have invited the 60-odd MNAs- elect of the former coalition in a “show of strength” to prove their “combined existence” in the National Assembly and to reassure the president about their loyalty.
The PML-Q has 41 seats in the new National Assembly, MQM 19, PML-F 4, NPP 2 and PPP-Sherpao has one.
The PML-Q’s information secretary, Senator Tariq Azeem, told Dawn on Monday said that the participants would speak their mind about various issues they were facing in the post-poll scenario and would draw the joint line of action to be taken as a united opposition.
The MNAs will gather at a five-star hotel on the invitation of PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.
The PML-Q, whose top leadership has frequently been meeting President Musharraf over the past two weeks, is being accused by PPP and PML-N of hatching a conspiracy to pre-empt the formation of a coalition government.
Chaudhry Shujaat held talks with MQM leaders in Karachi on Sunday, but did not get any assurance from the latter that it would go along with its former ally. Pir Pagara, who maintains an acrimonious stance against the PML-Q chief, refused to meet him.
The PML-Q has already met a number of opposition members as its own stalwarts like Mian Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri and Dr Sher Afgan Niazi have complained that they lost the elections because of a conspiracy by the party leadership.
