Musharraf to hold all-party meet on summit

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, JUNE 23. The Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, has invited representatives of political and religious parties for a meeting here on June 27 for consultations on his coming visit to New Delhi for a summit meeting with the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee.

The exercise, a kind of an all-party meet, is a follow-up to the promise Gen. Musharraf made when he appeared live on the Pakistan Television on `Face the nation' programme last week, but would have a totally different connotation as it is taking place under dramatically changed circumstances.

Assumption of the office of the President by Gen. Musharraf has complicated matters vis-a-vis the all-party meet, for the military Government. The mainstream political parties, including the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) led by Mr. Nawaz Sharif and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) led by Mrs. Benazir Bhutto, have announced that they would stay away from the conference in protest against the manner in which Gen. Musharraf has walked into the Presidential palace.

The Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD), a conglomerate of 18-and-odd parties including the PML and the PPP, is meeting a day before the conference convened by Gen. Musharraf to consider whether or not to respond to the invitation.

Most of the political parties, including the ARD, had welcomed the prospect of resumption of dialogue between India and Pakistan and said they looked forward to a positive outcome from the summit.

However, in the changed political context in Pakistan, the parties want to utilise the all-party meet to register their protest against what they believe is ``usurpation'' of the office of the President by Gen. Musharraf.

Representatives of over a dozen political and religious parties have been invited for the June 27 meeting. Besides the PML and PPP, the Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM), Millat Party, Jamaat-e- Islami, Jamaat-e-Ulema Party, Tehrife Jafria Party (Sunni- dominated outfit) and Pakistan Tehriki Insaf.

In an interaction with a select group of editors and opinion makers on the PTV, Gen. Musharraf had said that in the next few days, he would interact with representatives of political and religious parties, ulemas and religious scholars, Kashmiri groups and senior editors of the national press, on his India trip.

So far, there are no indications that he would like to hold consultations with extremist, religious and militant outfits that are opposed to his journey to India. Most of them, like the Lashkar, have urged the new President of Pakistan to decline the invitation from Mr. Vajpayee and not fall into the ``trap'' laid by India.

Meanwhile, anger is building up among leaders of political parties at the manner in which Gen. Musharraf donned the mantle of Presidentship. But the truth of the matter is that with Mr. Sharif and Mrs. Bhutto in exile, the mainstream parties are hardly in a position to offer any resistance. The PML (Nawaz) group, at a meeting, announced that none of its leaders would meet Gen. Musharraf in his new capacity.

``The PML(N) is of the firm opinion that Gen. Musharraf is not a trust-worthy person, therefore no leader of the ARD member parties should meet him in connection with his scheduled Indian visit,'' the Acting President of PML(N), Mr. Javed Hashmi, announced here. The PPP also shares the view.

There are indications from the Nawaz group that it intended to legally challenge Gen. Musharraf's decision to appoint himself as the new President of Pakistan. The petition earlier filed in the Lahore High Court by a lawyers' group has been dismissed on technical grounds.

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