With or without BB
Last weekend in London, former PM Nawaz Sharif hosted a multi-party conference, which highlighted some of the problems of getting together all political parties to take on General Musharraf. Benazir Bhutto — who supported the government’s Lal Masjid operation (Dawn, July 11) but blamed the rise of extremism on military rule (The Friday Times, July 13-19) — was not part of it, though she sent representatives from the PPP. And as Daily Times explained in an editorial on Friday, “The host of the London opposition all-parties conference (APC), the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), has formed an All Parties Democratic Alliance (APDA) for the restoration of democracy in Pakistan. But the PPP is not a part of it.” Taking into account the ideological range of the opposition brewing against Musharraf especially after Lal Masjid, it concluded: “The country needs a bipartisan system... If the purpose of the APC was to destroy this bipartisanship, it was not good for Pakistan, Musharraf or no Musharraf.” Bhutto explained her decision to turn down the alliance citing its absence from the APC agenda and “strong reservations against the MMA” (The News, July 13).

Late delivery?
On Wednesday, Daily Times also reported: “The United States on Tuesday started the long awaited delivery of F-16 aircraft to Pakistan when two of the aircraft, which had directly flown from the US in an eight-hour journey, were handed over to the Pakistan Air Force in a ceremony at Sargodha... These aircraft were manufactured in the 1990s and their delivery to Pakistan was stopped after the Pressler amendment. Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Mehmood Ahmed said the rest of the F-16 fleet of 10 aircraft would be given to Pakistan in batches up to the middle of next year.”