LAHORE, Dec 26: The all-party conference called by Alliance for Restoration of Democracy president Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan for Thursday has been reduced to a non-event by the decision of the Pakistan People’s Party and the Awami National Party to stay away from it. Some other parties — the Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-i-Azam), the Pakistan Awami Tehrik and the Millat Party — were not extended invitation for their reluctance to support the seven-point agenda or for their soft corner for the military government. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement was excluded for its dissatisfaction with the 1973 constitution and its demand to reinterpret the 1940 resolution.
The PPP decision has also undermined the importance of the ARD and its charter.
Makhdoom Amin Faheem, the PPP senior vice-chairman, conveyed the decision to the Nawabzada by phone. However, he did not give any reasons.
The APC will be held at the Lahore Press Club since hotels have refused to allow the use of their premises for the purpose.
Some 40 parties, a majority of them non-entities, have been invited to discuss a seven-point agenda.
Restoration of the 1973 constitution, opposition to any amendment in the constitution in a manner other than the one laid down in the basic law; reversal of the extra-constitutional steps already taken by the government; immediate elections under the supervision of a government of national consensus and an autonomous election commission; and lifting of ban on political activities are the demands for which the conference is being held.
The PPP has been supporting all these demands from the ARD’s platform. Its reluctance to take part in the APC to once again endorse the demands is, therefore, remarkable.
It is said that the PPP does not want to sit with the religious or fundamentalist parties, which have been invited to the APC. The approach is in line with the party’s earlier decision to stay away from a similar APC organized by the Jamaat-i-Islami on Sept 16.
This time the PPP has an additional excuse for its abstention. The ARD president has invited the MQM (Haqiqi).
The MQM(H) had earlier sent a letter to the Nawabzada, applying for ARD membership. After the PPP opposed the request, the Nawabzada said that a decision would be taken by the Sindh organization of the Alliance, headed by the PPP. This was a polite way of refusing to allow the MQM(H) to join the coalition.
Some ARD leaders say that by deciding to abstain from the APC, the PPP has deviated from the ARD’s charter and is, therefore, left with little justification to stay in the Alliance. The view is contested by the PPP.
An ARD leader says support of non-ARD parties should be regarded as a victory for the Alliance. He says there is no occasion for a component party to object to this.
The timing of the PPP decision has been described as ‘fatal’ from the APC’s point of view. The news will be published the very day the APC is to be held.
The decision also indicates that for the time being the party is in no mood to launch a movement against the government, and, that it will prefer, instead, to achieve its goals through talks, several rounds of which have already been held through its senior vice-chairman Makhdoom Amin Faheem.
Interestingly, while the PPP has chosen not to take part in the APC, a party leader played an important role in drafting the declaration to be issued at the end of the conference on Thursday. One leader said that it was unfair on the part of the PPP to express reluctance to sit with thesame religious parties with whom it has been cooperating in the past, even in the local elections.
Some ARD leaders, on the other hand, are of the view that the absence of the PPP from the APC would promote harmony among the remaining parties.
The ANP had first indicated that it would participate. It later changed the decision, reportedly reassuring the Nawabzada that despite abstention it would not issue any statement against the moot.
ANP sources say the party can’t join hands with the religious parties invited to the conference on account of differences on various issues.
The participation of the PML (Chattha) will amount to a departure from its previous stand. The party chief, Hamid Nasir Chattha, has been saying that the party has no objection to any steps taken by the military government taken during the period the constitution was held in abeyance. Once the constitution was restored, he said, however, it must be adhered to in letter and spirit. The party should, thus, have no objection to Gen Musharraf’s decision to appoint himself the president, or the establishment of a national security council as a supra-constitutional organization.
The draft “Lahore Declaration”, however, seeks the annulment of all extra-constitutional steps.