Pak Oppn alliance extends full support to Musharraf

quot;It is more than satisfactory to us that Musharraf has given a national agenda which perfectly matches the 10-point agenda of the GDA,quot; Manzoor Ahmed Watoo, one of the alliance leaders said.

The meeting was attended by almost all the GDA constituents except for Mohajir party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement MQM.

Criticising Sharif, Watoo said: quot;The GDA believes Mian Nawaz Sharif reaped what he had sown and he is responsible for the present situation.quot;

He also said Musharraf was working for the return of quot;true democracyquot; in the country, adding quot;we hope the Chief Executive is paving the way for a strong democracy and would restore it as soon as possible.quot;

Meanwhile, Sharif8217;s faction of the Pakistan Muslim League, the PML-N, met on Thursday for the first time since an army coup swept them from power, after most of its leaders were freed by the army authorities over the past few days. The party demanded their leader, Nawaz Sharif8217;s immediate release.

quot;We are worried about his security and his health,quot; party spokesman Zafar-ul Haq said. The army says that Sharif is in good health.

Sharif8217;s party seemed reluctant to antagonise the new military regime.

Haq, who was religious affairs minister in the deposed government, said his party did not want a confrontation with the military.

quot;We certainly would like no confrontation between the Pakistan Muslim League and the armed forces,quot; he said.

At the meeting the party created a 15-member committee that will try to regroup the shattered party, which had been unable to mobilise support for the deposed government in the days immediately following the coup.

According to Haq the Pakistan Muslim League had been unable to hold its meeting earlier because most of the ministers and party executives were under house arrest by the army.

quot;All over the country people were being held. Only in the last two or three days have people been freed,quot; he said.

He wasn8217;t certain how many former government ministers still were in army custody. But at least three federal ministers, Information Minister Mushahid Hussein, Petroleum Minister Nisar Ali Khan and Accountability Cell Chairman Saif-ur Rehman were in army custody along with Sharif and his brother, Shahbaz who was chief minister of Punjab.

However, so far no one has seen Sharif, despite calls from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and Amnesty International to allow lawyers and family members to see the detained men.

quot;We are demanding that democracy be restored8230; and access be given to our leader,quot; said Haq, who refused to call the coup illegal.