March, 28 2005	Monday	17 Safar 1426

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PESHAWAR, March 27: The NWFP chief minister Akram Khan Durrani has overruled the decision of the district government and allowed the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) to hold its ‘millionman march’ on the Grand Trunk Road here on Monday, said a senior official on Sunday. Earlier, the city district government had turned down the request of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) to hold a million-man march on the G.T. Road in Peshawar. Deputy Nazim Dr Iqbal Khalil told Dawn here on Sunday that the city district government had rejected the request of the MMA and instead asked the alliance to organize a public meeting in the Jinnah Park.

“The city district government has not given permission to the MMA to hold its march on the Grand Trunk Road. Instead it has asked the party to use the Jinnah Park for the purpose,” Mr Khalil said, who belongs to the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI).

The NWFP governor had also directed the district government to ensure that the million-man march would not be held on roads in the provincial capital.

The district government has informed the capital city police that the MMA had been denied to hold a rally on the G.T. Road, following which the city police was discussing other options, an official source said.

Despite the district government’s refusal, the MMA, however, is adamant on holding the rally on the G.T. Road.

An alliance spokesman said that due to non-availability of any other suitable place in the city, the million-man march would be held on the G.T. Road.

To show its full strength, the MMA has asked the management of seminaries across the NWFP to bring their students to the million-man march.

The provincial secretary information of JUI-F, Haji Abdul Jalil Jan, said that the seminaries would remain closed throughout the province.

The MMA leaders estimated that nearly two million people would take part in the march.

The NWFP governor, Khalilur Rehman, called the district Nazim, Azam Afridi, and his deputy Nazim, Dr Iqbal Khalil, to the Governor’s House on Sunday and discussed the million-man march besides the maintenance of law and order in the provincial capital.

The governor urged the Nazims to make sure that the public meeting be held in some other suitable place instead of roads to avoid traffic jams and inconvenience to the public.

He also emphasized that the law and order in the city must be maintained, said a handout.

The district Nazim and Naib Nazim assured the governor that the march would be held in Shahi Bagh and law and order as well as smooth flow of traffic would be ensured in the city.

Governor Khalil appreciated the statement of Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani that the provincial ministers would not take part in the march and the public meeting.