By IANS
Lahore/London : The Pakistan government's Operation Silence against the militants holed up in Islamabad's Lal Masjid has led to fissures in the opposition ranks.
On Wednesday, the All Parties' Conference (APC) met in London to form the All Parties Democratic Alliance (APDA) to fight for restoration of democracy, but the position of the former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is uncertain.
Leader of the PPP delegation at the meeting, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, rejected his party's participation in the APDA, reported Geo TV.
Maulana Fazlur Rahman, secretary general of the rightwing Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and a leading light of the APC, attended the meeting but criticised Bhutto for her 'support' to the Lal Masjid operations.
Nawaz Sharif, another former prime minister who heads the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and hosted the meeting, added to the confusion by denying that the PPP had refused to become part of the APDA.
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".
They have also alleged that the operation was timed with their London meeting to deny them publicity in Pakistani media.
The Lal Masjid operation has come as an excuse for those parties who resent Bhutto's contact with Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf through interlocutors.
The on-again-off-again parleys have given rise to speculation that she might align with Musharraf and the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Qaid (PML-Q), in time for the elections likely this year.
It is a proposition that the PML-Q also resents, but everything will depend upon 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 the Islamist radicals out of power, analysts say.
The Daily Times asked in an editorial Thursday: "… what was it in the text of Ms Bhutto's statement that offended the Maulana? She told the BBC that 'the Pakistan government was left with no choice but to use force against the Lal Masjid administration, and it was right in confronting the militants'.
"But she also said that 'Pakistan faces being taken over by militants if President Pervez Musharraf's dictatorship continues'.
"Clearly, the good Maulana conveniently seemed to focus on the first part but not the second that would have satisfied the APC participants."