ISLAMABAD, Nov 21: The combined opposition has decided to change its strategy in parliament and will now take part in its proceedings without resorting to desk thumping, slogan raising and walkouts.
Sources told Dawn here on Friday the combined opposition was likely to requisition the National Assembly to meet on Dec 7 to discuss national and international issues in detail.
Jamaat-i-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad has, however, requested the ARD leadership to requisition the NA session after the marriage of his daughter being held on December 14.
Naib Amir of Jamaat-i-Islami Liaquat Baloch told Dawn the opposition parties wanted to improve relations with the government both in and outside parliament. “But for this purpose, the government should also sincerely try to resolve issues like the LFO.”
He welcomed the president’s decision to get himself involved in the LFO issue, and said Gen Musharraf had no option but to “come to terms” with the opposition. “The president cannot afford to dissolve parliament as he himself would be the biggest loser,” he claimed, adding that it would be extremely difficult for the president to again go through the tedious exercise of holding election after the dissolution of the assemblies.
“What Gen Musharraf has said in yesterday’s meeting with editors and senior columnists is very significant and we now hope he would accept our demands to remove year-long differences between the government and the opposition,” Mr Baloch said.
He said the president’s negotiating team had enjoyed his support and blessings and now “we expect that the president will not become a hurdle in the future government-opposition talks and an amicable settlement would be reached on the LFO and other issues.”
Responding to a question, he said the opposition had no inhibitions about meeting the president but it wanted that before such a meeting both sides should narrow down their differences to a considerable extent.
“Such a meeting should not turn out to be an embarrassment either for us or for the president, therefore, teams from both sides should first meet and discuss all controversial issues,” the MMA leader held.
He was of the view that by not allowing his team to settle controversial issues including that of his uniform, the president was causing damage to democracy and democratic institutions.
“We do want the president to get involved in the issue directly so that things could also become easy for the Jamali government,” he said.
Mr Baloch advised the president to break the impasse on constitutional matters by accepting “genuine demands” of the opposition”.