ISLAMABAD, Sept 6: The government on Wednesday made another attempt to woo the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) to get its support for the controversial Women Protection Bill-2006 seeking amendment to Hudood laws.

The government agreed to form an eight-member committee to review the amended draft of the bill, which was tabled in the National Assembly after its approval by the Select Committee.

The decision to form the committee, comprising religious scholars, was taken at a meeting between a four-member government team, headed by the ruling PML president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, and MMA leaders, including Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

MMA leader Hafiz Hussain Ahmed told Dawn that the government had proposed the names of Maulana Taqi Usmani, Mufti Munibur Rehman, Dr Sarfaraz Naeemi and Law Minister Mohammad Wasi Zafar as members of the proposed committee. The MMA side would be represented by Syed Naseeb Ali Shah, Asadullah Bhutto, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidri and Hafiz Hussain Ahmed.

The government made the fresh contact with MMA leaders after the decision of the MMA’s supreme council on Tuesday to resign from the National Assembly seats at the time of the passage of the women protection bill, which they had declared against the teaching of Islam, Holy Quran and Sunnah.

Chaudhry Shujaat was accompanied by Federal Law Minister Wasi Zafar, Religious Affairs Minister Ijazul Haq and chief whip of the PML Sardar Nasrullah Dareshak, while the MMA team comprised Liaquat Baloch, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, Maulana Mohammad Khan Shirani and NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani besides Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Maulana Fazlur Rehman said the MMA had already rejected the bill introduced by the government in the name of women’s rights protection. He said the MMA was ready to cooperate with the government in removing controversial clauses that were not in accordance with the Holy Quran and Sunnah.

The MMA leader said that Chaudhry Shujaat was convinced that there was no need to show an ‘indecent haste’ to get the controversial bill passed from Parliament.

Chaudhry Shujaat said the government wanted to resolve the issue amicably.

Mr Zafar said the government was ready to accommodate suggestions of religious scholars on the bill.

Later, the first meeting of the government-MMA committee was held here, but ended without making any headway.

Hafiz Hussain Ahmed said the government-nominated religious scholars had sought more time for discussion and said that they would again meet on Monday.

Sources said that Chaudhry Shujaat, who also attended the meeting, said the government was ready to give sufficient time but the bill could not be further delayed.

The sources said the PML chief did not respond to the request of MMA leaders that the bill should not be put before the house for final debate before its approval by the committee.

Meanwhile, the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP), which had extended its support to the government on the bill, was perturbed over the meeting between the government MPs and MMA leaders at a time when the Select Committee had approved the draft and the bill had been put on the agenda items for Thursday’s session.

The decision of the Tuesday’s meeting of the MMA’s supreme council had also surprised the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), which had been supporting the MMA’s stand on the controversial bill.

Hafiz Hussain Ahmed criticised the PPP for supporting the bill introduced by the government. He said on one hand, the PPP had moved a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and on the other it was extending support to the bill tabled by the treasury benches.

He said the MMA took part in the no-confidence motion against the prime minister despite the fact that it was ARD’s decision.

When asked about the decision announced by opposition parties after the all parties conference in Islamabad and a meeting at the residence of PML-N leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Aug 31 that all opposition parties had decided that they would submit their resignations jointly, he said why the MMA should resign on the behest of others. “If we are to leave assemblies, then we will do it for our own cause,” he added.

PPP secretary-general Raja Pervez Ashraf said if the MMA had taken the decision to resign from the National Assembly on the issue of the Hudood bill, then it was its unilateral decision. He said that the PPP would support the government-sponsored bill at any cost, and added that the PPP was supporting the bill in accordance with its manifesto.

Meanwhile, the MMA also arranged a briefing for its parliamentarians on the proposed bill at the Parliament House on Wednesday. The briefing was also attended by media persons.

MMA parliamentarians said the definition of Nikah had been deleted from the amended draft bill, which would create complications for women.

They said that they would not allow the government to get the bill passed from parliament.

The MMA leadership expressed concern over the inclusion of ‘Lian’ into divorce chapter of Muslim Marriages Dissolution Act. They said it would ultimately cause rapid increase in karo kari cases and killing of women.