No party contacted yet for caretaker set-up: opposition

By Ashraf Mumtaz

LAHORE, Nov 12: With the formation of an interim set-up only three days away, President Perrvez Musharraf has not yet contacted any major opposition party for appointing a caretaker prime minister.

Opposition parties have been calling for the formation of a government of “national consensus” to ensure transparent elections. The presidency had indicated a number of times that it would take major opposition parties into confidence over the matter.

The PPP’s secretary-general, Raja Pervez Ashraf, and MMA secretary-general Maulana Fazlur Rehman told Dawn on Monday that the PPP and the MMA had not been contacted and this meant, according to the JUI-F leader, the general was planning to nominate his own man as the interim prime minister.

The PML-N will not entertain any contact by Gen Musharraf on any issue, a source told Dawn.

Maulana Fazl refused to convene a meeting of the All Parties Democratic Movement on Nov 18 on PML-N leadership’s request.

“Out of question,” the MMA secretary-general is reported to have said when he was told about Mr Sharif’s message.

The PPP’s secretary-general warned that free and fair polls would not be possible if Gen Musharraf appointed his favourite as interim prime minister without first consulting with the opposition parties. He said decision-makers would have to face “grave consequences” if they tried to hijack the polls.

Maulana Fazl said: “Perhaps he (President Musharraf) is trying to use his powers under the emergency rule.”

The president’s spokesman, Maj-Gen (retd) Rashid Qureshi, could not be reached despite repeated attempts.

The MMA secretary-general plans to convene a meeting of the MMA on Nov 15 to take a decision about elections.

He is also calling a separate meeting of the JUI-F in Islamabad on Nov 18 to review the situation.

It was learnt that PML-N Secretary-General Iqbal Zafar Jhagra called Maulana Fazl on Monday to request him, on behalf of Nawaz Sharif, to hold a meeting of the APDM on Nov 17 to take a collective decision.

The JUI-F sources said that a few days ago, Mr Sharif had personally called Maulana Fazl, requesting him to postpone the all-party conference called by the MMA until he received a reply to a letter he had written to PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto.

The PML-N leader had told the Maulana about his reservations about Ms Bhutto’s stance.

The Maulana, according to sources, said that if the PML-N had reservations about Ms Bhutto’s stance, the MMA also had its apprehensions about the APDM because of its conduct at the time of the dissolution of the NWFP Assembly and resignations from the National Assembly.

Dawn 13/Nov/07