ISLAMABAD – As President Asif Ali Zardari is striving hard to make his roundtable conference a success, the opposition seems wary of the agenda of the moot, with the PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif pressing for the implementation of his 10-point agenda within the 45-day time limit.
Zardari continued consultations with political leaders for the second consecutive day, the most significant being his telephone call to Nawaz for inviting him to attend the proposed moot. A source in the PML-N told Pakistan Today that Nawaz expressed his reservation over the proposed roundtable conference, telling the president that the implementation of his party’s 10-point agenda was enough to steer the country out of the present crises and convening a roundtable conference was a futile exercise.
“Nawaz asked Zardari to use his good offices to get PML-N’s reforms agenda implemented within the given time,” the source said. However, the source said Nawaz did not flatly refuse to participate in the conference and told Zardari that he would reply after consulting his party. “In response to Nawaz’s reservations, President Zardari said there were some issues like the war on terror, Namoos-e-Risalat, Karachi killings and the Raymond Davis case, which were not part of the PML-N’s agenda.
He said there was a need for a broad-based national consensus, therefore, he (Zardari) had decided to convene the roundtable moot,” the source added. As part of his consultative process, Zardari also contacted JWP chief Shahid Bugti, NP President Dr Abdul Malik and head of BNP-Awami Israrullah Zehri. He also again called Asfandyar Wali. Meanwhile, JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman agreed to participate in the conference after Zardari assured him that the Namoos-e-Risalat issue would be part of the agenda.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik contacted JI leader Liaquat Baloch on behalf of the president to extend an invitation for the conference. Baloch said the JI would decide about participating in the moot once the government shared a detailed agenda with the party. PML-N’s Raja Zafarul Haq said his party would decide on the conference after going through its agenda. Asked if the PML-N had linked its participation in the conference to the implementation of its 10-point reforms agenda, Haq said, “No doubt, the PML-N wants the government to implement the reforms agenda within the deadline.”
Ameer Muqam of the PML-Q said the existing crises could be resolved with sincere efforts on part of the government, not by summoning such conferences. MQM Deputy Convener Farooq Sattar said negotiations between the government and his party were already underway over MQM’s proposed 9-point agenda “and we will discuss the same agenda in the roundtable conference”.
Haji Khuda Bux Rajar of the PML-F welcomed the president’s proposal, but expressed his ignorance about the conference’s agenda.
