APDM leaders meet today to review resignation timing

With the presidential election due early next month, top leaders of All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) will meet in Peshawar on Thursday to reconsider the timing of resignations from assemblies against President Pervez Musharraf's re-election.
The APDM leaders would make last ditch effort to convince Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman, the opposition leader in the National Assembly and head of Jamat Ulema-e-Islam, to quit the parliament and provincial governments to vigorously block Musharraf's bid seeking re-election for another term. Newly-formed APDM has announced to quit the assemblies on September 29 when the Election Commission is likely to clear the candidature of President Musharraf for another term. Fazl, however, has so far failed to develop consensus within his party - one of the major factions of six parties religio-political alliance - to resign from the assemblies on September 29.
The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) has already endorsed the APDM decision to block President Musharraf's re-election, but there are serious differences within the alliance over quitting provincial governments.
There is a group within the Jamat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) who is strongly opposing the plan to quit the provincial governments rather it believes to resign from the parliament only. The MMA rules Frontier province whereas it is also a coalition partner in the Balochistan government with the ruling Pakistan Muslim League.
Since the lawyers community has fielded a former Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed as candidate against President Musharraf for presidential poll, the opposition parties are undecided to support him when they have decided to quit the assemblies. MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmed and PTI chief Imran Khan have vowed to back Wajihuddin.
The Pakistan People's Party (PPP), which is not part of the APDM, has also decided to nominate its Vice Chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim as candidate for presidential election.
Despite several announcements, there are very slim chances that PPP legislators would quit the parliament amid reports of fresh dialogues between the Musharraf-led government and the PPP to secure a power-sharing formula in next parliamentary setup. The APDM, however, is disappointed over Benazir-Musharraf talks, some serious efforts would be made on Thursday to take all the factions of MMA on board to resign from the assemblies.
The meeting would also chalk out a protest plan keeping in view the countrywide arrests of Opposition leaders. They have announced to protest outside the Election Commission when it would collect the nomination papers for the contentious presidential poll. Later, all the APDM legislators are likely to tender resignations to Speakers of national and provincial assemblies on September 29. But, political analysts foresee widening differences in the newly formed alliance when it comes to quitting provincial assemblies.