KOHAT, Sept 28: Pakistan Muslim League leader Salim Saifullah Khan said on Sunday that the parliamentarians of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal had disappointed the people by ignoring their problems and creating political instability.

Speaking to party workers, he said the Ulema had not served the people or the religion by thumping desks in parliament and making issues out of the Legal Framework Order and President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s military post.

He said the president had addressed 90 heads of states in the United Nations General Assembly and he was not hesitant to speak at a joint sitting of parliament but the opposition’s attitude was the main hurdle in its way.

“How can one expect that the opposition will listen to the president’s speech when it does not participate in the routine discussions,” he said and alleged: “They come to parliament for a while just to claim their salaries.”

He asked the party workers to organize conventions to counter the anti-Kalabagh dam propaganda of the regional parties and said they had always politicized the issue for their interests.

Later, talking to newsmen, Mr Saifullah alleged that the political leaders living abroad were afraid of accountability and were issuing statements about their return to the country just to please their parties’ workers and keep themselves politically alive.

He said the reports about the return of former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif were rumours because he and his family, including former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, had left the country under a deal. He said the supporters of their party had lost faith in them.

He said the Balochistan and Punjab chief ministers would have to relinquish the party offices and pave the way for the election of fresh provincial presidents of the PML.

Replying to a question, he said election for the party presidents’ posts in the NWFP and Sindh would be held soon.