December 19, 2003	Friday	Shawwal 24, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Dec 18: The government on Thursday launched renewed effort to dissuade the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) from its ongoing mass movement by taking it into confidence on the proposed ‘joint constitutional amendment bill’ in the National Assembly, informed sources told Dawn.

The sources said Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali and Pakistan Muslim League President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain had contacted the MMA leadership in Multan on Wednesday night and tried to persuade it not to go ahead with its planned movement.

Earlier, after prime minister’s meeting with Gen Musharraf on Wednesday it was said that the government had decided not to show any weakness in its dealing with the MMA.

However, the government high functionaries reportedly requested the MMA leadership to send its representatives to the federal capital for further parleys.

As a result, a special plane was sent to Multan which landed back here with MMA negotiators Liaquat Baloch and Hafiz Hussain Ahmed on Thursday evening to start what is believed to be crucial round of talks with government representatives.

Mr Baloch told Dawn that a meeting was expected with the prime minister and other government representatives late in the night.

He said the MMA’s stand was unchanged as far as the vote of confidence for the president was concerned.

When asked as to why the MMA had backed out of its promised support to the move to obtain a vote of confidence for the president when talks started a year back, Mr Baloch said: “A year has passed since the MMA had indicated its support but at that time the question of vote of confidence was not raised.”

Meanwhile, the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, as part of its protest movement launched against President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Thursday, would stage protest demonstrations on Friday in all the big cities and towns of the country after Friday prayers, an alliance spokesman said on Thursday.

The spokesman said the local organisations of the MMA would chalk out their own strategy for holding the demonstrations in each city in which they would highlight the alliance’s stand vis-a-vis the Legal Framework Ordinance (LFO) and the government’s failure in finalising and presenting the draft constitutional bill in time.

A procession will be taken out from central Lal Masjid in Aabpara which will be led by Punjab deputy chief of Jamaat-i- Islami and MNA from Islamabad Mian Mohammad Aslam and will be participated by the workers of all component parties.

The decision was taken at a meeting held in MMA’s central office here in which local leaders of the JI, JUI, JUP, JAH and Islami Tehrik were present.

Speaking on the occasion, Mian Mohammad Aslam, MNA, said the protest campaign would continue till the acceptance of the demands and the presentation of constitutional bill in parliament.

He criticised Gen Musharraf for the ostensible shift from the stated position of Pakistan on Kashmir that the issue would have to be resolved through the pertinent United Nations resolutions.

A resolution passed in the meeting said: “Our goal is to rid the country of dictatorship and restoration of democracy.” It asked the people at large to take part in the movement for the restoration of democracy.

In the second resolution, the MMA strongly condemned violence against women and children perpetrated by the United States troops during raids in Iraq, and demanded trial of such personnel under war crime laws. It said after the arrest of Saddam Hussein and end of Iraqi army there was no reason for American troops to remain in Iraq.