LAHORE, Feb 18: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal on Wednesday extended a hand of friendship to the ARD hoping that the latter would reciprocate the gesture and join forces with the religious alliance to prevent the government from taking steps which were not in the national interest.

MMA Secretary-General Maulana Fazlur Rehman told a news conference at the residence of Hafiz Riaz Durrani that he had received some signals from the ARD leadership and the two alliances, which have been working together till the adoption of the 17th Constitutional amendment, would re-establish a contact.

The lack of coordination between the two major alliances was providing relief to the government, the MMA leader said, adding the burning issue of the detention of various nuclear scientists could not be raised in the National Assembly because neither of the two alliances was independently in a position to requisition a session.

The MMA leader said his alliance seriously wanted to cooperate with the ARD and it was for this reason that it did not react when the ARD leaders issued some harsh statements.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman rejected the ARD's assertion that the religious alliance had become an ally of the government after extending support for the adoption of the 17th Amendment.

If support to the government on a particular issue was made a yardstick, the PPP should be regarded as an ally of the NWFP government as it had given the confidence vote to the chief minister and had stood on the side of the government at the time of the budget approval.

In response to a question, he said the MMA was not opposed to the ARD's campaign against President Musharraf. But, he made it clear that the MMA was also not with the ARD on the subject as it had not launched the campaign in consultation with the religious alliance.

He defended the MMA's support to the government on the 17th Amendment, saying by doing so it had saved the Constitution from becoming controversial. This amendment had been validly approved, he said, adding that the ARD had the right to have a different point of view on the issue.

The MMA leader was critical of the operation launched in the tribal areas, saying it would antagonize the people loyal to the country. Already, he said, the situation on the western border was not good as the country had to deploy some 70,000 troops there, though not a single soldier was needed there when the Taliban were in power.

He said the operation being carried out with the US cooperation was an oppressive step, amounting to inviting a war with the tribal people. The MMA secretary-general rejected the allegation that people from the tribal areas were crossing into Afghanistan to fight against US forces there. He said the government should not blindly trust the FBI's assertions.

In response to a question, he said people in the tribal areas would fiercely resist the operation knowing that anyone arrested as a consequence would be handed over to the US.

He was of the view that the situation could be handled tactfully if the matter was entrusted to the NWFP government. The representatives of President Musharraf would not be in a position to deal with it, he emphasised.

He expressed doubts about the existence of Al-Qaeda. In response to a question, Maulana Fazlur Rehman said the Senate chairman and the National Assembly speaker alone were competent to nominate leaders of opposition for their respective houses.

In his opinion, both sides should not dispute the decision of the chairman and the speaker, no matter which side was loser or beneficiary. He told a questioner that the Supreme Council of the MMA would meet soon to discuss the situation and decide its future course of action. He believed that the impression of intra-MMA differences would evaporate after the meeting.