ISLAMABAD, July 17: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal accepted on Thursday the invitation to attend an all-parties conference (APC) to be convened by the Pakistan Muslim League-N in the federal capital before the proposed government-opposition talks.

MMA parliamentary leader in the National Assembly and Jamaat-i-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed told Dawn that PML-N acting president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi had talked to him by telephone and extended the invitation.

The JI chief said the MMA would attend the all-parties conference so that a consensus could be reached among the parties of the combined opposition on different issues when they entered into talks with the government.

He expressed the hope that the opposition parties would adopt a common stand on all controversial issues, including the president’s uniform.

Evading the question regarding differences between the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy and the MMA over the issue of giving a deadline to Gen Musharraf to remove his uniform, he said all opposition parties were united on the issue of the Legal Framework Order (LFO) and sovereignty of the parliament.

When his attention was drawn towards the accusations by the PML-N and the Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians that the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal was violating the declaration signed by the opposition leaders during the APC in Lahore on July 6, he said Makhdoom Hashmi had talked to him by telephone and did not say anything in this regard.

He, however, said in the coming all-parties conference they would ask the PPP and the PML-N to explain as to how the MMA had violated the declaration.

Talking about his recent meeting with Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali, he said the latter had assured him that all decisions on national issues would be taken in the parliament.

Meanwhile, Makhdoom Hashmi also talked to PPP President Makhdoom Amin Fahim, PTI chief Imran Khan, JWP chief Nawab Akbar Bugti, PKMAP President Mehmood Khan Achakzai and BNM leader Abdul Rauf Mengal by telephone and discussed the current political situation besides extending invitations to them for the APC.

The PML-N leader said he would also invite other parties and professional bodies to the APC.

He said the party had already started making preparations for the proposed all-parties con-ference and the date would be announced within a day or two.