October 23, 2007	Tuesday	Shawwal 10, 1428

MARDAN, Oct 22: The general-secretary of the JUI, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, has said his party would make efforts to keep the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal intact. Speaking at a party meeting in the circuit house here on Monday, he said the JUI had suffered greatly due to the resignation from the assemblies by parties belonging to the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal. But he would try to prevent the disintegration of the alliance of religious parties.

He held Jamaat-i-Islami amir Qazi Hussain Ahmad responsible for the differences in the MMA.

“The decision to resign (from the parliament) was made by the MMA and the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) on the suggestion of Qazi Hussain Ahmad and Imran Khan, which proved wrong,” said the Maulana, adding that he was kept in the dark about the decision.

He said his party’s leadership would review its policy towards the APDM.

He claimed that the Chaudhry brothers had not contacted him for an alliance for the next election.

The JUI-F, he said, was not ready to make such a decision.

About the military operations in the tribal agencies, he said the use of force would not resolve the crisis there.

He said that even Nato forces were planning to withdraw from Afghanistan.

The Maulana added that the government should pull out troops from the tribal areas.