February 23, 2007	Friday	Safar 5, 1428

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ISLAMABAD, Feb 22: Differences between MMA stalwarts Hafiz Hussain Ahmed and Maulana Fazlur Rehman came out in sharp focus on Thursday when two strangers gained unhindered entry into the former’s apartment in the Parliament Lodges here.

An agitated Hafiz Hussain Ahmed told Dawn that the two intruders possessed no entry pass and when challenged said they had been sent to meet one Abdul Ghaffar in Apartment No. G-105 which in fact belongs to Hafiz Hussain Ahmed.

However the MNA, who was recently downgraded by his party chief, took their unchecked entry into the heavily guarded Parliament Lodges as a serious security lapse and called the security staff who handed the intruders to police.

Secretariat Police Station told Dawn that the two identified themselves as Kamran and Safdar from Rawalpindi and “belonging to a political party”. The police did not say which party.

They claimed they had gone to the Parliament Lodges to visit Maulana Fazlur Rehman but mistakenly strayed into Hafiz Hussain Ahmed’s apartment.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman, when contacted, said “nothing of the sort happened at all”. He said he did not know the two men “nor my party colleague told me of any such incident”.

“How come an incident takes place with my partyman, and two persons are arrested and he does not tell me?” said the maulana who is back in active politics with a repaired heart.

When told of his party chief’s comment, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed lost his cool and blurted out: “Either the two had come to see Maulana Fazlur Rehman or the police is lying.”

Differences between the two MMA leaders had surfaced over the issue of resigning from the National Assembly on the Women Protection Act. They became apparent when Leader of the Opposition Maulana Fazlur Rehman removed Hafiz Hussain Ahmed from the post of deputy leader of opposition when he announced on the floor of the house that he would resign without the MMA taking a decision on the issue.

Thursday’s was the fourth incident of intrusion in the apartments of parliamentarians in the Lodges in six weeks.