January 5, 2006	Thursday	Zilhaj 4, 1426

KARACHI, Jan 4: President of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and Amir of Jamaat-i-Islami Qazi Hussain Ahmed has said that the MMA will field joint candidates in the senate elections to be held in first week of March.

“An important meeting of the MMA leadership is being held tomorrow in Peshawar to discuss the issue and finalize a joint strategy,” he told newsmen at Idara Noor-i-Haq, before the 50th consignment of relief goods was dispatched by the Al-Khidmat Welfare Society to quake-hit areas.

Qazi Hussain was confident that the MMA would regain all the senate seats that it lost due to the retirement of 50 per cent of the senators on completion of their half term.

In reply to a question, he said all opposition parties, especially the ARD, would be consulted before finalizing the candidates for senate seats.

He termed the ongoing military operation in Balochistan ‘unconstitutional’, and said that MMA was against use of armed forces within the country and against compatriots.

“There is no justification for the armed forces’ operations against their own people. We should learn lesson from our past mistakes, and refrain from endangering the country’s security and sovereignty.”

Referring the situation in quake-hit areas, he said that due to the intense cold, a large number of homeless people, especially children, might not survive unless adequate relief was provided to them.—PPI