LAHORE, Nov 30: The PPP does not accept the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) as the opposition party.
“Only the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) and the PPP constitute the real opposition,” party’s foreign liaison committee chief Munir Ahmad Khan told mediamen here on Sunday before cutting a cake to celebrate PPP’s 37th foundation day anniversary.
He said MMA’s talks with the government were not dialogue between the government and the opposition.
“Neither the ARD nor the PPP are part of the hobnob going on between the government and the MMA on the uniform issue,” he said.
He urged the MMA to abide by the commitment it had made to the nation in the all-parties conference held at Mansoora a couple of months ago.
Gen Pervez Musharraf was not acceptable as president to the opposition as even 100 per cent majority in the incumbent National Assembly could not elect a man in uniform to the office, he claimed.
Demanding immediate election to the office of president, he said parliament was incomplete until the voting.
Deputy information secretary Altaf Qureshi urged all political parties to unite on a single platform for working against adventurist army generals as the country could not afford dictatorship any more.
He alleged that talks with India were being held to ensure win for Vajpayee in the next elections for he believed that the rule of an extremist party like the BJP suited Pakistani generals aspirations.
Punjab president Qasim Zia said the main function to celebrate the foundation day of the party would be held on Dec 7 at Mochhi Gate.
In his message to party workers, he said they should renew their pledge to continue their fight against dictatorship and for the supremacy of the Constitution and parliament.
Also present on the occasion were Naveed Chaudhry, Azizur Rahman Chan, Aurangzeb Burki, Mian Misbahur Rahman, Sajida Mir and others.
VIOLENCE BILL: The MMA will support the amended Prevention from Domestic Violence bill to be tabled by a ruling PML-Q woman MPA in the next session of the Punjab Assembly.
MMA parliamentary party coordinator Syed Ehsanullah Waqas told a press conference here on Sunday that the religious alliance would move the bill in the house if the MPA concerned was disallowed to do so by her parliamentary party.
Jamaat-i-Islami information secretary Amirul Azeem was also present.
Waqas said points the MMA reservations aboy them had been removed in the new draft.
“Even the preamble and terminology of the old bill has been changed,” he said.
The major change in the new draft is that a respectable citizen would be nominated as a protection officer instead of a police officer in case of a domestic violence complaint, he added.
Another prominent feature of the new draft is that now a protection officer would occupy a portion of the house where the victim is residing only with the consent of the householder, the MMA MPA said.
He, however, feared that the term “respectable citizen” might be misused by vested interest as the draft lacked procedure for selecting a protection officer.
He also opposed giving suo motu powers to anybody for interfering in a domestic dispute arguing that such powers had not been given even in the United States and Europe.
The government should step in such a case only on a complaint, he added.