LAHORE, Dec 10: Alliance for Restoration of Democracy president Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan is contacting political parties of all shades of opinion to invite them to an all-party conference (APC), tentatively scheduled for Dec 28 at a local hotel.
The purpose of the exercise is to evolve harmony of thought among all parties in the ARD as well as those outside the alliance’s fold on issues which form the ARD’s charter.
Demand for immediate elections under the supervision of a powerful and autonomous election commission and a government of national consensus and opposition to Gen Pervez Musharraf’s plan to amend the constitution, his aggrandizement as president when he simultaneously holds the office of the chief executive and army chief and heads the National Security Council are the major items on the agenda.
While parties in the ARD have been reiterating their collective opinion on these issues since the inception of the alliance a year ago, and before that from the platform of the Grand Democratic Alliance out of which the new coalition had been carved out, many non-ARD parties also have the same opinion.
Similar demands were made when the Jamaat-i-Islami had organized such a moot on
Sept 16.
But the need for a new exercise has been felt because of the changed situation in which President Pervez Musharraf has gained legitimacy from the world community and seems determined to run the country the way he likes to.
The ARD chief said on Monday he wanted to let the international community know that parties in Pakistan would not accept Gen Musharraf’s unilateral agenda and resist all steps he wanted to take.
But the attitude of the ARD’s major component, the PPP, is a matter of concern for alliance chief. The party of Ms Benazir Bhutto had not participated in the Sept 16 APC at Mansoora and is not confirming its participation in the proposed conference.
The Nawabzada specially feels upset because the PPP is a signatory to the very same points from the ARD’s platform which are to come under discussion at the APC.
It may be recalled that a few days before the Sept 16 APC, the PPP had asked the Nawabzada while he was presiding over an ARD meeting at the residence of PML(N) leader Tehmina Daultana that he should represent it (the PPP) at the Jamaat-i-Islami’s APC.
The suggestion provoked the senior leader to an extent that he threatened to resign as ARD president. He also told the PPP leadership in a sarcastic tone that representing them was such a gigantic responsibility that his failing health did not allow him to shoulder it.
Political observers say that the PPP had abstained from the Sept 16 APC to keep itself away from the assembly of religious parties, and for the reason it is not inclined to accept the invitation from the Nawabzada.
Whether the PPP will ultimately accept the invitation? What will be the significance of the APC if the PPP does not participate in it? Answers to these questions will be known only in the days to come.