SUKKUR: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah has said that it is up to the masses, and not an individual or a group, to tell a political party to go with or without its chief.

`The authority to till a party to opt for the minus-on or plus-one formula rests with the masses and it it must remain with them,` he said while speaking to journalists at his residence late on Sunday evening.

Mr Shah ruled out any possibility of a change of government as a result of the Oct 30 siege of Islamabad planned by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), saying that governments could not be changed through street protests and public meetings. He said he believed that the siege would benefit the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government more than the PTL Opposing the way of agitation adopted by the PTI to achieve its objective, Mr Shah asked: `Even if political dis-putes are also left to be settled on the streets, then what the parliament is for?` He argued that if [Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl chief] Maulana Fazlur Rehman subscribed to the idea of a change through street protests, it was not at all difficult for him to take 200,000 of his supporters to Islamabad. `But `might is right` is no politics,` he added.

The senior opposition leader observed that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) was a patriotic entity, suggesting that more problems should not be created for it. `We need to refrain from creating a situation that could become dangerous, he warned, and apprehended that if created, such a situation could even bring PTI closer to the MQM. The government should show political maturity and pay heed to what [MQM-Pakistan leader] Dr Farooq Sattar wanted to impress upon it, he added.

In reply to a question, Mr Shah said that India was bent upon isolating Pakistan in the world community and had already caused embarrassment to it by failing it to hold the Saarc (the South AsianAssociation of Regional Cooperation) conference.

In this context, he urged the prime minister to have a foreign minister in place. He also advised him to handle Balochistan issues with great care.

Drawing the PM`s attention to a volatile political situation within the country, he observed that one party was going to lay a siege to Islamabad while another one was being forced to get its lawmakers withdrawn from elected houses. He, however, shrugged off a game-changing outcome of the `consultations` currently under way in London among leaders of the PTI, Pakistan Awami Tehreek and Awami Muslim League, saying that such consultations were a normal practice in politics.

In reply to a question about reports suggesting that Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari would return home on Dec 27 [the death anniversary of his spouse Benazir Bhutto), Mr Shah said: `Pakistan is Mr Zardari`s home and he can return home on a day of his choice. At the moment, I don`t know whether he plans to come on Dec 27 or some other date`.