LAHORE, March 7: In what may be described as a major policy shift, the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, has indicated to ruling Pakistan Muslim League President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain that NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani may be allowed to attend the future meetings of the National Security Council.

However, the Maulana himself will continue to stay away from the council. PML sources called it a welcome signal which would be in the interest of the country. It is said that a decision on the subject would be taken by the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal as the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F would not like to put the unity of the religious alliance at stake by its unilateral action.

Maulana Fazl confirmed that he had discussed the matter with the PML president and that the JUI-F was of the opinion that the NWFP chief minister should participate in the NSC meetings.

"We are opposed to the act under which the NSC was set up, but the law is law. We can't deny the existence of the NSC," said the JUI chief, who is also secretary-general of the MMA, while talking to Dawn.

He said he as the leader of opposition and Mr Durrani as chief minister had been abstaining from the NSC not because they did not recognize it but to register their protest on various issues.

The Maulana said the protest could continue with his staying away from the NSC meetings. But the NWFP chief minister should be allowed to attend because he had a different status.

The opposition leader admitted that because of his absence from the meetings, the NWFP chief minister had missed opportunities to explain the case of his province to the NSC leaders.

A meeting of the MMA supreme council is expected to be called in the near future to discuss the matter. "When the MMA participates in the NSC meetings, by implication it will be accepting Gen Pervez Musharraf as the country's president," a PML leader said.

It may be pointed out that the 'official' stand of the MMA is that Gen Musharraf is neither the president nor the army chief because he had failed to honour his word to shed his uniform by Dec 31.

The religious alliance has already announced a series of marches in various cities to mount pressure on Gen Musharraf to quit. President Musharraf took serious notice of Mr Durrani's absence from the first meeting, but had only deplored the abstention of Maulana Fazlur Rehman. In the subsequent two meetings, the attitude of the president was soft on the issue of the MMA leaders' boycott.