ISLAMABAD, Jan 5: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal is likely to start its mass-contact campaign on Jan 19 by holding a rally in Karachi, sources said.

The MMA had promised to convert its protest movement into a mass-contact campaign if the LFO was brought to parliament under an agreement reached with the government.

The MMA's supreme council, which is meeting at Lahore on Thursday, will finalize details of the campaign to be launched to press the government for the acceptance of a 17-point set of demands.

The alliance is also expected to consider as to who should head it after the death of Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani.

MMA's acting president Qazi Hussain Ahmed, while speaking at a news conference the other day, had listed 17 demands, mostly concerning with Islamization of society. The demands were presented by the alliance during the course of talks it had held with the government on the LFO issue.

Talking to this correspondent on Monday, the deputy parliamentary leader of the MMA, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, said the supreme council would ponder over the consequences of the constitutional agreement the alliance had signed with the government.

He said the MMA, during its mass-contact campaign, would explain to people the motive behind giving the government a smooth sailing in the passage of the 17th amendment bill.

He said the role of the ARD, especially the PPP, would be exposed as to how it tried its best to strike a deal with the government throughout this period.

Mr Ahmed said the MMA would inform people as to how the emissaries of Benazir Bhutto had been trying to get the favours of Gen Musharraf.