LAHORE, Dec 2: The PML-N declared on Thursday that there was no possibility of reconciliation with the military establishment, and even talks with them amounted to wasting time.

"There is no question of reconciliation with the military establishment. They will have to go. Talks with them mean wasting time," Punjab PML-N Secretary General Saad Rafiq said while answering a question at a news conference.

He was asked if gestures by Asif Ali Zardari that he could play the role of a bridge between the opposition and the establishment could open the doors for talks between the two sides.

PML-N President Zulfikar Khosa said something would crystallize only when the situation unfolded in the days to come. Asked whether President Musharraf's telephone call to offer condolences over the death of Mian Sharif could bring about some positive change in the otherwise adversarial relations between the Sharifs and the general, Saad said the exiled former prime minister had taken it as a routine call. "Nobody should try to read too much into it."

Saad was sitting with the Sharifs when President Musharraf had made the call. "Mr Sharif only casually mentioned that he had received the call," Saad said, adding the Sharifs were in no mood to soften their attitude towards what he called hypocrites and traitors.

A reporter asked how did the PML-N see the release of Mr Zardari. In response, Mr Khosa referred to a federal minister's statement that it was a step towards reconciliation. But, he pointed out, the same minister subsequently reviewed his stance, saying the release had come about as a result of the Supreme Court verdict.

He said Mr Zardari had also said that no deal had taken place, and that he was trying for a national reconciliation forgetting the bitterness of the maltreatment meted out to him during his eight years under detention.

"Let's see what happens next," Khosa said. Khosa and Saad said on Dec 16 the party would recall how East Pakistan was separated. They regretted that the present rulers had learnt no lesson from the tragedy, and the policies being pursued at present posed a serious threat to the security of the country.

The PML-N leaders said the party would hold Christmas programmes on Dec 23, two days ahead of Dec 25 on which day the Quaid-i-Azam's birth anniversary and Nawaz Sharif's birthday would be celebrated.

On Dec 30, the party would celebrate the 99th foundation day of the Muslim League. Details of the programmes would be decided at a meeting of the party's provincial working committee in the second week of this month.

They said their party would take an active part in the meetings to be held under the auspices of the ARD at Mirpur, Sialkot and Sargodha. Saad said his party was taking the ARD's campaign against the dictatorship very seriously. To ensure that the people participated in the protest rallies in larger numbers, the party would visit various districts of the Punjab and mobilize anti-government elements.