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LAHORE, Oct 27: MNA-elect from Rawalpindi Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has called upon political parties to be flexible in their approach in the formation of government or power that may ‘slaughter’ the new legislatures.
Talking to reporters here on Sunday, he said the country was passing through a serious crisis which required all political parties to rise above their personal interests. It was regrettable that candidate of prime minister nominated by one party was not acceptable to the other as a result of which no headway had been made towards the future setup.
In case the deadlock persisted, Gen Musharraf could dissolve the new assemblies and other countries would accept his decision without any hesitation, the former minister said.
Sheikh Rashid, who was elected on two National Assembly seats in Rawalpindi despite being denied a ticket by the PML-N, predicted that parties might face defections in case leaders failed to adopt accommodative attitude.
There was a dire need for political parties to adopt a “give and take” approach to steer the country out of the crisis, he said.
In his opinion, party with the highest number of seats should be invited to form government. In case it could not show its majority the second biggest party should be given a go-ahead.
In the prevailing situation, he said the PML-Q had the right to set up its government at centre and in the Punjab. In the NWFP, he said, the MMA had emerged as the biggest force and had the right to form its government.
The situation about Sindh and Balochistan, Sheikh Rashid said, was yet not clear.
He said a still more difficult situation would crop up at the time of the election of the Senate chairman.
Answering a question, he said since all parties had contested the elections under the Legal Framework Order, they should not make the oath a prestige issue.
All legislators-elect should take oath with the same spirit with which they had participated in the electoral process, Sheikh Rashid said.
Otherwise, he said, they should be prepared to face consequences.
