QUETTA, April 24: Pakistan People’s Party leader Mir Sadiq Ali Umrani has said that it is the responsibility of the army establishment to create a conducive atmosphere for reconciliation between the PPP leadership and President Gen Musharraf in the larger interest of the country.

Mr Umrani said on Sunday that the PPP was the largest party in the country and enjoyed popular support in the four provinces.

He said President Musharraf had also recognized the fact and felt the need to seek PPP’s help because of its liberal stand on various issues.

However, he said that some elements were making efforts to create misunderstanding between the establishment and the PPP leadership just to protect their own interests. “The PPP and the army establishment should hold negotiations in the larger interest of the country,” Mr Umrani said.

Mr Umrani,who is a former president of PPP Balochistan, also said that his party was avoiding a confrontation with the government in the larger interest of the country. He said despite police torture and large-scale arrests of PPP leaders and workers on the eve of Asif Ali Zardari’s arrival in Lahore, the party did not make it an issue for confrontation with the government.

He said that the government should take steps for creating a conducive atmosphere for the success of the reconciliation process. He said that free and fair general elections were the only way to steer the country out of crisis and solve peoples problems.

PROTEST PLAN: Bread-makers of the city, who have been on a strike for four days to pressure the authorities to increase the price of Nan, have threatened to stage a sit-in outside the Chief Minister Secretariat if their union members are not released.