ISLAMABAD July 30: Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal’s deputy parliamentary party leader Hafiz Hussain Ahmed refuted here on Wednesday Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan’s allegation that the MMA had deviated from its stated position on the Legal Framework Order (LFO).
Talking to Dawn, he said it had now become obvious that the Sunday meeting of party heads was held to discuss the contentious LFO and the MMA was firm that it would only agree on a composite constitutional package to be approved by the parliament.
Explaining the MMA stand on the ongoing talks with the Zafarullah Khan Jamali government, Hafiz Hussain said the new round of talks at the party heads’ level was initiated on the unanimous demand of the combined opposition.
He observed that Prime Minister Jamali had first met PPP’s Khurshid Shah in the National Assembly, who encouraged further talks with other opposition leaders, including Maulana Fazlur Rahman, as a result of which the prime minister announced convening of party heads’ meeting.
To say that the MMA had deviated from any of the two APCs’ declarations, as stated by the ARD chief, was not correct as the religious alliance had reiterated the same stand in the negotiations with the government which it had taken three months back, he further said.
The combined opposition, the MMA leader said, had been of the considered opinion that the constitutional matters ought to be tackled in the parliament and the MMA had impressed the same point in the latest talks with the government.
He, however, regretted that the ARD leadership took one-sided decision.
