Speaking at a joint news conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Friday, Bashir Ahmed Bilour of the Awami National Party, Abdul Akbar Khan of the People’s Party Parliamentarians, Anwar Kamal Khan of the Pakistan Muslim League-N, Sikandar Sherpao of the PPP-S, Shahzada Gastasip of the Independent Group and Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani of the PML-Q declared that the opposition parties had nominated Mr Gastasip as joint opposition leader in the house.

They said opposition wanted to run the house in line with democratic traditions for which they had extended allout support to the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal in the past, but the government tried to ignore the opposition’s genuine demands.

The opposition leaders thanked Speaker Bakht Jahan Khan for summoning the NWFP Assembly session on Sept 23, but flayed the government which, they said, did not send any member to attend the Friday meeting called by the PA speaker to discuss the agenda for the coming session.

The combined opposition took 298 days (parliamentary sittings) to select its leader in the house. The PPP-S and PML-Q, which support the military rulers on the LFO issue, were the main hurdle to the opposition’s unity.

The two other opposition parties, PPP and PML-N, which are also part of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy, were also a hurdle in this respect.

Abdul Akbar Khan of the PPP denied that any move to dislodge the MMA government was in the offing. He said there were many options under the consideration of the opposition, but all of them were aimed at strengthening the democratic system.

Speaking on the occasion, the newly-appointed leader of the combined opposition, Shahzada Gastasip Khan, said all the opposition groups were united on the one-point agenda of working for the rule of law and defend the present system.