13 December 2004	Monday	30 Shawwal 1425

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LAHORE, Dec 12: The MMA public meeting at Minar-i-Pakistan was an utter failure as only a few thousand people could be brought to the venue despite all efforts by the six-party religious alliance, the ruling PML says.

Provincial Secretary General Chaudhry Zaheeruddin, Information Secretary Senator Kamil Ali Agha and Deputy Information Secretary Imran Riaz said at a news conference at the Muslim League House that the 'poor turnout' at the MMA meeting showed that the common man did not back the demand that President Musharraf hang up his uniform.

Senator Agha claimed that not more than 4,000 people had attended the MMA meeting. He said the organizers had placed chairs in a manner to magnify the figure. The failure of the public meeting should be an eye-opener for the religious alliance and the PML-N, which had also participated, Senator Agha said.

Chaudhry Zaheeruddin said parliament had passed the necessary legislation to allow President Musharraf to retain his military uniform. Thus, he argued, opposition parties should respect the verdict of the elected houses.

Anti-uniform demands despite the parliament's enactment amounted to undermining the status of the legislature, the PML leaders said. They said the government had given the MMA a free hand to hold the meeting.

Still, they said, the organizers had to bring in people from other provinces and students from various seminaries. They said it was third consecutive failure of the religious alliance, the earlier two at Karachi and Multan.

The PML leaders said the electorates' indifference had established that they supported President Musharraf and his policies. Zaheeruddin said except for a few thousand people who participated in the public meeting, the entire nation was with the president.

He said the ruling party would not have to organize any such public meeting to show its strength. However, Senator Agha said that President Musharraf was going to make some important announcements in the coming days and then the ruling party would organize some programmes to thank the general.