ISLAMABAD, Dec 7: MMA’s secretary-general Maulana Fazlur Rahman has said the alliance will not accept the government’s demand that it pledge to give vote of confidence to Gen Musharraf in case the draft amendment bill — as agreed between the two sides — is passed by parliament.

Talking to Dawn by telephone, Maulana Fazl, who met PML chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain in Lahore on Saturday, said the demand was totally new which was never discussed in the ten-month-long talks.

Meanwhile, the party heads meeting (supreme council) of MMA, scheduled for Tuesday, was likely to give a go-ahead signal to the countrywide mass movement planned from Dec 18, even if the government succeeded in bringing the proposed draft amendment bill in parliament, sources told Dawn.

Maulana Fazl warned the government against any attempt at delaying the bill under any pretext, otherwise the MMA will go ahead with its planned movement.

He said he had called on Chaudhry Shujaat as a courtesy to inquire about his health and there was no agenda of the meeting.

He, however, said that he was stunned to note that the government side had directed all its energies towards convincing the MMA to commit its support for the trust vote for Gen Musharraf. This was not part of the Lahore agreement, he added.

He termed the new demand a confession by the government that it did not enjoy a real majority in parliament.

The MMA leader said he had told Chaudhry Shujaat that the process of parleys had been over, and that there will be no reopening of talks.

Asked about the agenda of Tuesday’s supreme council meeting, the Maulana said the steering committee headed by Qazi Hussain Ahmed will present its report which will be discussed and a final decision taken on it. Moreover, the alliance will also review

the government functionaries’ latest statements to judge how far it was serious in resolving the issues.

Meanwhile, deputy parliamentary leader of MMA Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, who met Prime Minister Jamali in Karachi on Saturday, said the major stress of the government was on getting MMA’s assurance on trust vote.

He said: “We have made it clear that we will not make any commitment on this account unless the draft amendment bill giving indemnity to certain agreed clauses of the LFO is debated and passed by parliament.”

He said they (the government side) must revive our confidence first and then talk of any other kind of confidence.

“In last one year of continuous parleys with the government we have learnt one lesson that we should not rely on the government’s assurances but make sure that the promises are fulfilled as they were made.”

He said, he had clearly told prime minister Jamali in his meeting that nothing short of the draft bill as agreed between the MMA-PML teams in Lahore will be accepted.