January 9, 2003	Thursday	Ziqa’ad 5, 1423

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ISLAMABAD Jan 8: Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) on Wednesday declared it would requisition the National Assembly session to put to debate the controversial Legal Framework Order (LFO), American agencies’ interventions, and the political and economic situation of the country.

The decision to submit a requisition before or after Eidul Azha will be taken after consulting other opposition parties in the MRD, including the PPP and the PML-N.

The supreme council of the MMA, presided over by the alliance president Allama Shah Ahmed Noorani, however failed to take a consensus decision on allotment of Senate tickets which was the basic objective of the meeting. It decided to refer the matter back to the provincial organisations.

Earlier, it may be recalled, the provincial parliamentary boards, particularly that of the NWFP, had referred the matter of Senate tickets distribution to the central high command for a final decision after facing differences among the component parties.

However it decided to allot tickets to senior alliance leaders Maulana Samiul Haq of JUI-S, Allama Sajid Naqvi of Pakistan Islami Tehrik, Prof Sajid Mir of Jamiat Ahl-i-Hadith and Prof Khurshid Ahmed.

Maulana Hamidul Haq, MNA, who represented his father as senior vice president of JUI-S at the supreme council meeting told Dawn that the meeting had allowed ticket to Maulana Samiul Haq and referred the matter back to the provincial organisation for accommodating the party’s demand for a second seat.

The meeting was attended by Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Liaqat Baloch from Jamaat-i-Islami, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed and Hafiz Riaz Durrani from JUI-F, Maulana Hamidul Haq JUI-S, Allama Sajid Ali Naqvi from PIT and Prof Sajid Mir from JAH.

The leaders of both the factions of JUI — Maulana Fazlur Rahman and Maulana Samiul Haq — refrained from attending the meeting on various grounds but insiders attributed their absence to the persisting differences over the allotment of Senate tickets.

Later, Allama Shah Ahmed Noorani told newsmen that the alliance leadership had discussed at length the overall political situation obtaining in the country with particular reference to the dangers to national integrity stemming from the US agencies’ intervention and hot pursuit threats by the American military command.

Replying to a question about Qazi Hussain Ahmed’s threat on the NA floor that he would quit his assembly seat if the LFO was accepted as part of the 1973 Constitution, Maulana Noorani said: “All decisions would be taken collectively”.

Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, deputy secretary general of MMA, assured that he (Qazi) would not be allowed to go alone.

Maulana Noorani said the alliance also discussed the dangers to the country’s nuclear capability, the supremacy, independence and sovereignty of parliament, and decided to play a positive role as befitted a responsible opposition.

MMA, he said, “continues to stand by its opinion that the so-called LFO would remain unconstitutional as long as it was not approved by a two-third majority of parliament.”

The alliance wanted that the Jamali government was allowed to work independently and that President Musharraf gave up the office of chief of army staff to get elected from parliament, he said.

The alliance also discussed and expressed its anger at what it called the government’s “undemocratic methods” of interfering in the by-elections.

It demanded of the chief election commissioner to restrain the federal as well as provincial governments from releasing development funds to constituencies where by-elections were being held till Jan 15 so that all candidates were afforded a level playing field.

The alliance expressed its sorrow and grief over the losses occurred to the people of northern areas due to severe earthquake.

Allama Noorani said the supreme council had prepared a strategy for the Senate polls and there were no differences as far as distribution of alliance tickets was concerned.

Qazi Hussain Ahmed on the occasion demanded of the government to allow an additional 10,000-plus applicants for Hajj who had arranged their own accommodation and submitted documents.