Awami National Party (ANP) on Monday ruled out holding talks with the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) unless the controversial Sindh Local Government Ordinance, 2012 is withdrawn.
Haji Adeel, ANP Senior Vice President, while talking to Business Recorder categorically stated that his party would not backtrack on its principled stance and will in no way accept the controversial ordinance which has been promulgated to appease a single party without taking the rest of the coalition partners into confidence.
"We've categorically rejected to hold talks with the government on the issue until and unless the controversial ordinance is taken back. We simply turned down an offer by Sindh Chief Minister for a meeting on this issue, as we've only one demand, which is withdrawal of the ordinance", Adeel added. He said that the promulgation of the ordinance was tantamount to robbing rights of the other people in the province and it has been framed to serve the interest of a single political party.
The ANP in reaction to the ordinance has quit the PPP-led coalition provincial government in Sindh and has continued its boycott of the National Assembly. The ANP as well as other nationalist parties of the province including the PPP's key coalition partners, PML-Q and PML-F, have backed the nationalists' parties call for strike against the ordinance on September 13. PML-N, the main opposition of the country has also rejected the ordinance and announced its support for the strike.
Meanwhile, sources said that the ruling PPP is making efforts to remove reservations of its coalition partners in the province as well as in the Centre, which have, so far, been unsuccessful. "Yes the PPP is trying to contact us at different levels here in the Capital as well as in Sindh, but we have already conveyed our views on the matter and we will stand by our decision," Adeel added.