ISLAMABAD, Feb 21: The supreme council of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) on Monday announced a programme of countrywide million marches and caravans as part of its next phase of the anti-Musharraf campaign.
The MMA, which failed to persuade the ARD leaders in its last meeting with them to form a grand opposition alliance, welcomed contacts between the leadership of the two alliances and expressed its determination to continue such contacts.
MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmed presided over the meeting which was attended by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, Allama Sajid Naqvi, Qari Gul Rahman, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, Liaquat Baloch, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Pir Ijaz Hashmi and others.
Maulana Samiul Haq, who has not attended any meeting of the alliance over the past one year, did not attend the Monday meeting either. Jamiat Ahle Hadith chief Senator Sajid Mir also stayed away.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Maulana Fazl said the ARD-MMA summit scheduled for Monday had been postponed at the former's request. Demanding greater provincial autonomy, the MMA leader criticized the federal government for not providing timely relief to victims of rains and snowfall in the NWFP.
The supreme council observed that whatever provincial autonomy was available to the provinces under the 1973 Constitution had been taken away by the government through local governments. The alliance demanded that the centre should immediately pay the net hydel profit and royalty on gas to the NWFP and Balochistan, along with arrears.
According to the MMA's protest programme, its parliamentary party will meet at the parliament house on Feb 23 to endorse the supreme council's decisions and chalk out a plan for the National Assembly session.
The MMA will elect its provincial office-bearers in Peshawar on March 2 and in Punjab on March 9. On March 8, the alliance will hold a protest rally on the call of the All Parties Khatm-i-Nabuwwat Conference against the removal of the religion column from the passport.
On March 10, MMA's ulema wing from Northern Areas will meet in Islamabad to discuss the situation in their region and chalk out a strategy to meet the challenges. A caravan will be taken out on March 18 from Sukkur to Larkana, on March 19 from Larkana to Hyderabad, and on March 20 from Hyderabad to Karachi where it would convert into a million march.
Similarly, the MMA will hold its Rawalpindi to Gujranwala caravan on March 22 and from Gujranwala to Lahore on March 23. It would assume the shape of a million march after reaching Lahore.
A million-man march will be held in Quetta on March 25 while in the last stage a caravan from Rawalpindi to Peshawar will be organized on March 27 where a million march will be held the same day.
In reply to a question, Maulana Fazl said that Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain had not contacted the MMA to discuss the question of allowing present assemblies to complete their tenure, adding that the MMA's demand for allowing the assemblies to function till 2007 was linked to Gen Musharraf quitting his both offices.
