President takes opposition leader into confidence

Islamabad: As a prominent leader from the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML) met President Pervez Musharraf, the party yesterday sought to scotch speculation the presidency was pushing for a change of its top leadership.

It was the second meeting Hamid Nasir Chattha, a former National Assembly speaker, has had with Musharraf in recent weeks and closely followed the withdrawal of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) from the federal cabinet over the ruling coalition's inability to fulfil a pledge to reinstate deposed judges.

Domestic television channels, quoting unidentified sources, said Chattha briefed Musharraf about his contacts with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which leads the government at the centre and partners the PML-N in the government in Punjab.

Speculation has been rife in the media that Chattha was being promoted to muster necessary backing in the PML-Q for a possible link-up with the PPP if its alliance with PML-N finally breaks down, compelling the party to seek support from other political segments in the parliament and the Punjab assembly.

PML-Q secretary general Mushahid Hussain Sayed and the party's leader of the opposition in parliament, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, told reporters there was no possibility of a change of leadership in the PML-Q.

Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain heads the PML-Q while his cousin Elahi helms the party in Punjab, where he was chief minister under a military-civilian dispensation.

Issue-based support

Both Mushahid Hussain and Pervaiz Elahi said the rank and file of PML-Q had complete confidence in the leadership of the party.

"There is overall consensus in the PML-Q that we should sit in the opposition and play an effective role in the parliament. We will support the government on the basis of issues," Elahi said.

He accused the government of foisting false cases on PML-Q legislators in Sindh and Punjab.