All major political parties, including the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have confirmed their participation in the All-Parties Conference (APC) to be held on September 29 at the Prime Minister’s House. The conference is expected to discuss US-Pakistan ties and the country’s national policy in the face of diplomatic tensions with the US. According to reports, other political parties were being contacted and their confirmations were expected by Wednesday.
In their meeting at the President’s House on Tuesday, President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said that no compromise would be made on the security and sovereignty of Pakistan. As the president and PM met in Islamabad to discuss the political and security situation in the country, PML-N President Nawaz Sharif chaired a meeting of his party leaders at Raiwind to discuss the proposed APC. During the meeting, Nawaz urged the PPP-led coalition government to call a joint session of parliament to take the nation in confidence on the issue, but this demand was rejected by Zardari and Gilani, who vowed to implement the decisions made at the APC.
Meanwhile, the PML-N decided that Nawaz would represent the party in the APC and would exert pressure on the government to shun concealing the facts from the nation. Nawaz told the meeting that nobody would be allowed to use the Pakistani soil since it was a free country and its freedom would never be compromised. He said since the nation was the one who had made all the sacrifices, the government must stop hiding the facts from it, adding that all the decisions should be made in the parliament so that a confident response could be given to the US’ allegations.
