LAHORE, March 28: PPP Senator Raza Rabbani has told Asif Ali Zardari that he will not accept a post in the cabinet or any other role in the new government which brings him under obligation to have interaction with President Pervez Musharraf.

Sources said on Friday Mr Rabbani would perform any duty assigned by the party leadership, but would not like to come in contact with the president. It is said that long before the elections at a meeting with PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto in London, Senator Rabbani had informed her about his reservations regarding President Musharraf.

“Rabbani doesn’t like any kind of interaction with the president or the presidency. He’ll not like to be administered oath by President Musharraf”, sources said, adding that he would like to stay out of the cabinet rather than take oath at the hands of the man he doesn’t think is the legitimately elected head of state.

It’s not clear what role the PPP leadership is planning to assign him. Senator Rabbani was the leader of the opposition in the Senate until a few days ago. He was also a minister in the Benazir cabinet.

He also played an important role in hammering out Murree Declaration which commits the PPP and the PML-N to restore the deposed judges of superior court.trade unions: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government will stop privatisation of profitable units and reinstate the forcibly terminated employees of privatised units.

People’s Labour Bureau in charge Abdul Qadir Shaheen said this while speaking at a meeting of the House Building Finance Corporation (HBFC) workmen union here on Friday.

He said the PPP government would honour all promises made to the workers, including the repeal of black labour laws and lifting of restrictions on trade unions.

PPP’s Lahore coordinator Dr Hasnat Ahmad said the PPP had come into power as a result of the martyrdom of Ms Benazir Bhutto and sacrifices of workers.