November 9, 2002	Saturday	Ramazan 3,1423

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ISLAMABAD Nov 8: The PLM-Q leader, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, was severely reprimanded by the JUI-F for not being able to effectively play his role as a facilitator between the government and other groups.

The central executive committee of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islami (F) met on Friday, first time since Oct 10, to review the political situation in the country.

Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, secretary-general of the JUI-F told Dawn that the party’s executive committee was briefed on the political dialogue that the MMA leadership had had with the PML-Q and other parties so far.

He said that the decision to nominate Maulana Fazlur Rahman for the prime minister’s slot was taken by the supreme council of the MMA, and only it could reconsider or undo it.

The committee was also informed about the state of relationship between the four major parties —the MMA, PML-Q, NA and the ARD — which had given Chaudhry Shujaat the responsibility to act as a bridge between the government and various parliamentary groups.

Commenting on Friday’s meeting between the MMA and GNA, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, said we took Chaudhry Shujaat to task for failing to act as facilitator of negotiations with the government on the LFO and presidential referendum.

He said Shujaat was also reprimanded for demanding the postponement of the first national assembly session. The meeting felt that in doing so he did honour the four-parties’ pledge not to cause a deadlock in the transition to democracy.