PESHAWAR, Nov 17: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal’s decision to resign from the National Assembly is final and not open to negotiations, according to president of the alliance Qazi Hussain Ahmad.
"Our members will individually hand over their resignations to the NA speaker when the assembly goes into session," he said at a press conference here on Friday.
Warning the media against creating confusion on the issue of the resignation, he said that all MMA members had handed over their resignations which would be submitted to the speaker at any time.
He said that the alliance’s parliamentary party would meet in Islamabad on Dec 7 to prepare its strategy regarding the resignations.
He described reports about rifts in the alliance over the issue as baseless.
He insisted that the alliance’s leadership was capable of overcoming the crisis and said that Maulana Fazlur Rehman had also announced that he would resign from the lower house.
He said that the MMA had decided not to resign from the Senate or quit the coalition government in Balochistan, adding that they would take appropriate decisions at the right time.
Qazi Hussain criticised a reported statement by the federal minister for parliamentary affairs that the National Assembly session would not be convened for the next four months and said that any move not to convene the house to block their resignations would be unconstitutional.
"The government cannot block our move by not convening the NA session. If the government adopts such tactic, the alliance will requisition a session to hand over the resignations," he said.
He said that the ruling party was facing a serious crisis, adding that the PPP and the MQM were becoming closer to Gen Musharraf, while the PML was being cornered.
Criticising government’s policies, he said that Gen Musharraf had challenged religious forces.
"Gen Musharraf had described heretics and those who violate the divine laws as liberal." He said that Gen Musharraf had failed to protect the federation and opened a front against religious forces.
He said that instead of parliament, corps commanders were taking decisions regarding vital national issues.
Condemning the air strike on a seminary in Bajaur Agency, he said that US forces had conducted the attack whereas Gen Musharraf had claimed the responsibility of killing innocent children.
The MMA president said that the alliance had already launched a ‘movement’ against the government and invited other opposition parties, including the Alliance for the Restoration for Democracy, to join the ‘grand alliance’.
He said that the MMA would continue its struggle to form a grand alliance and launch a countrywide anti-government movement.
He called upon Gen Musharraf to quit and hand over the government to a caretaker set-up, which should ensure the formation of an independent election commission to conduct free and fair elections.
