ISLAMABAD, Feb 23: The People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP) has decided to raise in parliament a number of questions regarding Ulema and Mashaikh Convention held in Islamabad on Feb 18, sources told Dawn here on Monday.

According to the sources, the PPP is considering to submit questions and various motions in the National Assembly and the Senate seeking details of the expenditure incurred on the convention. They said it was the right of the nation to know the names of Ulema and Mashaikh who were invited by the government to the conference.

The government through its media projected that over 2,000 Ulema and Mashaikh attended the convention, they said, and added that the government spent millions of rupees on the convention only to give an impression to the West that Gen Musharraf was making serious efforts to take the religious elements on board in his fight against terrorism.

They claimed that these Ulema and Mashaikh were lodged in various five star hotels of the capital. When contacted, the Parliamentary Secretary of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD), Izhar Amrohvi, said the PPP would definitely raise the issue in parliament as millions from the national exchequer were spent on the convention which, otherwise, had no significance.

He said the party would ask the government to tell parliament as to where these Ulema and Mashaikh were lodged during their stay in the capital and how much money it spent on their travel.

Mr Amrohvi further said that an adjournment motion would be filed in the National Assembly soon to discuss the speech of Gen Musharraf at the Ulema and Mashaikh convention.

He said Gen Musharraf in his speech had stated that the country was facing a threat of being attacked and the country's nuclear programme was in danger. This, he added, was a very important part of Gen Musharraf's speech and parliament should be told about "the background of this statement".

He said the government should inform parliament whether it had any intelligence report or indication that Pakistan could be attacked in future. This, he added, was a matter of concern for the whole nation and it should be seriously discussed in parliament.