LAHORE / ISLAMABAD, Dec 18: At least three components of the six-party Muttahida Majlis Amal (MMA) will oppose any proposal allowing Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman and NWFP Chief Minister Akram Durrani to attend NSC meetings, when the alliance’s supreme council meets on Monday.
The council will also take up other issues, including the Kalabagh dam, the government’s request for flexibility on terms of reference for the parliamentary committee on relief, a resumption of the anti-Musharraf movement and the Balochistan situation.
Jamaat-i-Islami’s deputy chief Liaquat Baloch said that Mr Durrani could not get for quake victims what he had expected by attending an earlier meeting of the NSC.
Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan’s senior vice-president Pir Ijaz Hashmi said his party had never accepted the NSC in its present composition and there was no change in its stance.
He said that if some component party of the MMA had passed any resolution on the issue it must not have been made public discussed by the MMA’s supreme council, a reference to JUI shura’s resolution last week authorizing party chief Maulana Fazl and Mr Durrani to attend the NSC.
The Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith also holds the view that going to the NSC is tantamount to strengthening the hands of President Gen Pervez Musharraf.
Meanwhile, the MMA leadership has made fresh contacts with other opposition parties in view of recent developments, such as efforts made by some people in the ruling party to persuade President Musharraf not to relinquish his army post even after 2007 and to amend the constitution for that purpose.
Also, the supreme council will discuss a reported statement of the US ambassador that the democratic system is better run under a uniformed president than under the civilian rule.
