December 2, 2002	Monday	Ramazan 26,1423

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ISLAMABAD, Dec 1: A meeting of the supreme council of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) has been convened in Islamabad on Monday to deliberate on the inconclusive talks that were held between Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali and the alliance’s top leaders, Maulana Fazlur Rahman and Qazi Hussain Ahmed, in Peshawar on Saturday.

The two-hour talks between the two sides, it may be mentioned, remained inconclusive as the MMA leaders told Mr Jamali that they will consult the matter with the heads of the alliance’s component parties before resuming talks on the possibility of a coalition with the PML-Q government in the centre.

An earlier announcement had said the MMA supreme council was due to meet in the middle of December but owing to the latest developments, including the PML-Q’s fresh overtures to the alliance for reopening of talks on the formation of a coalition at the centre, has forced this meeting to be called ahead of schedule, sources said.

The meeting has gained added significance after reports that Maulana Fazlur Rahman had held a ‘quiet’ meeting with President Gen Pervez Musharraf before he received PML-Q parliamentary leader, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, on Thursday last.

Since the said meeting was kept a closely guarded secret, its details could not be gathered.

However, Federal Information Minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed’s hint here on Saturday that President Musharraf could relinquish his post of army chief if he saw that the assemblies had attained sufficient stability, also points to some sort of a change of heart at the presidency, the sources claimed.

Chaudhry Shujat Hussain, it may be recalled, held a 45-minute meeting with Maulana Fazlur Rahman to arrange an MMA team’s meeting with Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali in Peshawar on Saturday.

The alliance president, Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani, who remained in Karachi throughout the month of Ramazan to complete the recitation of Holy Quran in Taraveehs, has completed his task and will preside over the most crucial meeting, the sources said.

The political observers were optimistic about a positive outcome in view of the MMA’s reaching an understanding with the GNA in Balochistan for setting up a coalition government in that province.

An MMA spokesman said the alliance will also ponder over the situation emerging out of the postponement of the provincial assembly session in Sindh.