October 24, 2007	Wednesday	Shawwal 11, 1428

PESHAWAR, Oct 23: The Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam and Jamaat-i-Islami agreed on Tuesday to stop issuing statements against each other’s leaders and convene a meeting of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal’s provincial council in Peshawar on Nov 5 to resolve their differences and JUI chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said the religious parties would contest the coming elections from MMA’s platform.

NWFP Jamaat-i-Islami chief Sirajul Haq called on provincial JUI head Senator Gul Naseeb Khan in a bid to defuse tension which cropped up between the two parties following the resignation by JI MPAs.

JUI’s provincial information secretary Haji Abdul Jalil Jan told Dawn that both the parties had directed their leaders to stop the blame game and not to issue any statement which might harm the MMA.

He said the provincial council of the six-party alliance would meet at Al Markaz-i-Islami on Nov 5 to discuss the differences.

He said both the parties had agreed to launch their election campaign from the MMA’s platform.

A statement issued from Al Markaz-i-Islami said that workers’ conventions would be organised at the district level across the province to formu-late a joint strategy for the elections.

Speaking at a function here on Tuesday, Maulana Fazl reiterated that the MMA would be strengthened and differences among its component parties would be resolved through its supreme council.

He said the JUI had rendered sacrifices for the unity of the MMA and the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) by resigning from the assemblies, although he was not in favour of the decision.

He held the government responsible for the prevailing lawlessness in the country and

said the masses had been

forced to take up arms in self-defence.

He said that some elements were trying to provoke his party’s workers to join extremist groups.

He said the United States was hatching conspiracies to create an Iraq-like situation in Pakistan to dismember the country. He said the JUI and its allies would not allow any power to destabilise Pakistan.

Maulana Fazl expressed satisfaction over the performance of the MMA government in the NWFP.