LAHORE-The historic national consensus over war on terror reached among all political parties and other stakeholders, way back in March 2009, is over, with the main opposition party, the PML-N, now toeing a totally different line. So a fresh consensus is needed to continue the war against militants, as the two main political parties, the PPP and the PML-N are poles apart in their thinking and strategy to deal with the extremists. This is what transpired from the news conference of PPPs Central Secretary Information, Fauzia Wahab, here on Sunday, who conceded that the two parties were having serious differences over the issue. The time has now come that political patronage of extremists should be stopped to effectively counter the menace of terrorism, she said indirectly pointing a finger at Punjab government. But in the later part of her news conference, she openly accused Punjab government of patronising extremists and cited Punjab chief ministers statement at Jamia Naeemia and Punjab Law Minister, Rana Sana Ullas alleged association with extremists to substantiate her point. In this regard, she also made mention of a recent rally organised by a banned religious outfit in Lahore after seeking permission from Punjab government. She said terrorism had increased as a result of this political patronage by the Punjab government. Pointing out points of divergence between the PPP and the PML-N on the issue of handling terrorism in the country, Fauzia said in categorical terms that PPP was opposed to the idea of holding dialogue with the militants, while PML-N was a strong proponent of this view. She opined that there was no point in talking to the militants at this stage as they were on the run and wanted dialogue just for the sake of face saving. She believed they (Taliban) were making such offers through their sympathisers. Admitting that her party had differences with the PML-N over the issue in question, she said that Nawaz party had supported military operation in Swat, but now its leadership had distanced itself from military action against terrorists. Stressing the need for national unity against terrorism, she said it was vital for our survival. It is about time that we should withdraw the political patronage we had been extending to the militants in different times she observed, while supporting the idea of holding All Parties Conference to build fresh consensus over the issue. She was accompanied by partys central Deputy Secretary Information, Haider Zaman Qureshi, Punjab Secretary Information, Dr Fakhruddin Ch, Secretary Finance, Aurangzeb Burki, Lahore President Asghar Gujjar, MPA, Faiza Malik and Political Secretary to Punjab governor, Hafeez Malik. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Fakhar condemned the statements of some religious leaders who have associated Punjab Governor, ,Salmaan Taseer with terrorists.