PESHAWAR, Oct 23: Jamaat-i-Islami, the main component of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, has refused to accept the nomination of Akram Khan Durrani as the NWFP chief minister till its approval by the MMA’s central committee.

In a statement issued from Al-Markaz al-Islami, the JI’s provincial secretariat, an spokes man said that the MMA’s cen-tral body was competent to decide about such an important issue.

Deputy secretary-general of the JUI, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, told Dawn by telephone that the JUI had emerged as the single largest party in the provincial assembly and it was understood that it would nominate chief minister from among its MPAs-elect.

Riaz Durrani, JUI information secretary, told Dawn by telephone that it was not an issue. “We will discuss this issue at the MMA meeting to be held in Islamabad on Thursday. The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal central body will certainly endorse the nomination of Akram Durrani,” he said.

The JI spokesman said the MMA provincial council, in it meeting, had recommended that the post of chief minister would be given to the JUI(F), speaker to JI and deputy speaker’s post to the JUI(S).

But, it also recommended that any central leader of the MMA, if he desired, could replace the JUI nominee.

The spokesman said the MMA had also determined a criterion for the chief minister. The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal had also decided that if Maulana Fazlur Rehman became prime minister, the Jamaat would be given the slot of NWFP chief minister, he added.

He said the religious parties had won the elections from the platform of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and not in their individual capacity, it was necessary that all decisions should be taken at the forum of MMA.