LAHORE, Dec 17: MMA Secretary General Maulana Fazlur Rehman has disclosed that the government has approached him through various sources in an attempt to convince him that the alliance of religious parties give up
its anti-Musharraf campaign
and accept the president's decision to stay on as the army chief even after Dec 31.
However, the MMA leader has refused to budge on the alliance's stand, saying the general would not be allowed to violate the constitution, no matter what the consequences.
Maulana Fazl told Dawn on Friday that the MMA would not like to take the matter of uniform to court which had validated the October 12, 1999, military takeover under the "doctrine of necessity" and given President Musharraf power to amend the Constitution.
He said no justice could be expected when "a military dictator" was the other party to the case. He said people's court was the right forum to settle the dispute and the MMA was taking the matter there.
The MMA leader did not like to identify the people who were approaching him on behalf of the government, saying it would not be morally fair for him to name them. But, he said, it was regrettable that the government still insisted that its stand on an important constitutional issue was correct and that the MMA should review its position.
The religious alliance is holding the fourth and last public meeting of the first phase of its anti-Musharraf campaign in Rawalpindi on Sunday (Dec 19). The coalition's supreme council will then meet in Islamabad on Dec 24 to map out its future course of action.
Maulana Fazl asserted he was a moderate in his thinking and was in favour of resolving issues instead of complicating them. Despite this soft approach, he said, he had failed to convince himself that the government's opinion on the uniform issue carried any weight.
He made it clear that if President Musharraf did not give up his uniform by the end of the month, the MMA would distance itself from the entire agreement signed with the ruling coalition and return to its original stand on all issues. He did not elaborate.
The MMA leader said he could not understand what change had taken place in the country or at the international level which had necessitated President Musharraf to retain both offices. Already, he said, the president enjoyed vast powers and was in a position to take many steps at will.
He apprehended that the government could try to stop the MMA processions from converging on Rawalpindi on Sunday. Security agencies, he said, could claim that they had received credible information that some vehicles were carrying things not permissible under the law.
The MMA leader said the alliance would not provide the government with any pretext to stop people from participating in the rally which he believed would be the largest.
In response to a question, Maulana Fazl said it was true that the government could enact any legislation on account of its majority in the bicameral legislature. But at the same time, he said, it could not make any law which was repugnant to the spirit of the Constitution or negated Islam, democracy and federal parliamentary system.
