QUETTA, Nov 10: If Pakistan Muslim League has a majority in the National Assembly, it should prove it and we would accept it, said Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Hydri, the general secretary of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam and an MNA-elect from Balochistan.

Alternatively, “if we proved our majority it should also be accepted. The prime minister should be from the majority party,” he added, while speaking at a press conference here on Sunday.

The PML-Q and PPP have got their traditional votes while the Mutahidda Majlis Amal has got a real mandate “to change the system,” he said.

Besides in the NWFP and Balochistan, the MMA has also got votes in Karachi, Lahore, Gujranwala and Islamabad, the Maulana pointed out, adding that other parties should respect this mandate.

Replying to a question, the JUI leader said the deadlock had been created by the government. “There is no deadlock on prime minister’s slot. In the first phase of elections, speaker of the National Assembly is to be elected. The PM’s election comes at the third stage.”

He said talks on Legal Framework Order (LFO) with the government were continuing but so far no decision had been taken.

Answering a question with reference to the National Security Council, he said there was no institution superior to the National Assembly.

He said if Zafarulah Jamali was a prime ministerial hopeful from a smaller province, so too was Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

He claimed that the MMA enjoyed support of 175 members in the National Assembly. He said if the MMA’s mandate was not respected, it would have serious repercussions on the shape of things to come.

We do not want the country’s president in uniform. We can resolve matters with him on the principle of ‘give and take’, he said.

Replying to a question, he said the 1973 Constitution “is a consensus document. It should not be made controversial.”

He said the NA session should be summoned and members administered oath under this Constitution.

Five MNAs-elect from Fata are with us but the government is trying to break them from us through governor NWFP by offering them money, Maulana Hydri claimed. —PPI