LAHORE, Oct 3: Though Gen (retired) Pervez Musharraf has not been invited to join the alliance of Muslim League factions, his request in this regard, if received, would be considered at a later stage.

Pakistan Muslim League (Likeminded) secretary general Humayun Akhtar said this at a news conference at his residence on Sunday.

“I did not give any advice to the former president about the National Reconciliation Ordinance, rather the Chaudhry brothers did it,” Mr Akhtar told journalists.

He said the party (PML-L) faced two allegations soon after its formation in August 2009; either former president Musharraf or PML (N) patron Nawaz Sharif was involved in its formation. However, both the allegations later proved wrong, he added.

He said the efforts for unifying all league factions on a single platform began in June 2010 following which PML (F), PML (L) and PML (Z) forged an alliance at the residence of Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri on July 15. He said Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad of Awami Muslim League and Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain of PML (Q) then met PML (F) chief Pir Sahib Pagaro and announced their joining of the alliance.

Later, Mumtaz Bhutto of Sindh Democratic Front and Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi of National People's Party were also contacted with an objective to forge a greater alliance and seek public support for 'third party option', he said.

Mr Akhtar said five league factions would be participating in the next meeting to be held in Lahore in the current month to practically launch the alliance and prepare its manifesto. Pir Pagaro would preside over the meeting, he added.

Claiming the alliance had not been formed to form a new government or oust the existing one, he said its objective was to save Pakistan from prevailing political crisis.

He, however, said the PML (L) would maintain its separate identity even after joining the alliance.

To a question, Mr Akhtar said Gen (retired) Musharraf had been conveyed that he should start politics only after returning to Pakistan but this was not the right time for his return.

To another query, he claimed the matter of Dr Aafia Siddiqui was neither taken up nor discussed in the cabinet meetings.

He told a questioner that though some politicians from PML-Q had joined Musharraf's All Pakistan Muslim League, no one from PML (L) had done this.

Makhdoom Ahmad Mehmood, who is the president of PML (functional) Punjab chapter, said activists of Muslim leagues in south Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were disappointed with the political situation and 'two-party politics' in the country and that they could be mobilised only if all factions get united on a single platform as a third option for the masses.

He said the Pakistan People's Party had always got benefit of divisions in Muslim league.

He said PML (N) of Nawaz Sharif was not formally contacted for its inclusion into the alliance.