By IANS
Lahore/London : The military operation at Islamabad’s Lal Masjid has split Pakistan’s opposition into two.
A new alliance has been formed in which the position of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is uncertain. Its chief, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, has been accused of supporting President Pervez Musharraf, who ordered the operation at Lal Masjid.
Component parties of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) split into two groups after the PPP Wednesday rejected a proposal to launch a joint struggle against the government along with the rightwing Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA).
The new alliance is called the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM). Its constituents are the MMA, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N, the Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement (PONM), Istaqlal Party and former Test cricketer Imran Khan’s Tehrik-e-Insaaf.
The APDM has appointed a PML-N chairman Raja Zafarul Haq its convener, and the first meeting is scheduled to be held at his Islamabad residence July 30.
Nawaz Sharif announced the formation of the APDM Wednesday at a press conference in London attended by leader several opposition leaders.
Sharif said that they had invited the PPP to launch a joint struggle against the government and several meetings were held for this purpose but that the PPP showed no flexibility.
“Thus we formed a new alliance, APDM, for the elimination of dictatorial rule and introduction of real democracy in the country as we did not want to waste further time,” Sharif added.
Parties other than the PPP have taken the stand that by launching an operation against the clerics and militants at Lal Masjid, Musharraf was “stoking extremism and endangering Pakistan”.
Analysts say the Lal Masjid operation has provided an excuse to those political parties who resent Bhutto’s being in contact with president Musharraf through interlocutors.
These on-again-off-again parleys have led to speculation that Bhutto might eventually align herself with Musharraf and the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Qaid (PML-Q) before the general election, which is likely to be held this year.
Analysts say everything will depend on how Musharraf and Bhutto work out a possible deal that is perceived as ‘secular’ and has the tacit approval of the Bush administration, keen to keep Islamist radicals out of power.