QUETTA, Nov 5: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) secretary-general Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said he will contact the leadership of opposition parties to chalk out a joint line of action.

Talking to mediapersons in Jamia Rashidiya after arriving from Karachi on Monday, he blamed the government for the current crisis which, he said, had put the country’s sovereignty and integrity at stake.

The JUI leader said that Gen Pervez Musharraf had imposed the state of emergency taking advantage of differences among opposition parties. He called upon the leadership of all parties to shun their differences and work jointly.

He urged the government to immediately announce the schedule of general elections and transfer power to elected representatives.

He claimed that the civilian order could be restored only with the participation of political parties.

He said he had discussed the situation with Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) president Qazi Hussain Ahmed and other leaders of the alliance on Sunday night, adding that he would contact the All Parties Democratic Movement convener Raja Zafarul Haq on Tuesday.

He said he wondered how the National Assembly could sit when the Constitution itself was in abeyance. Without the Constitution, he said, all assemblies were meaningless.

Maulana Fazl said the rulers had learnt nothing from Iraq and Afghanistan and the government was pushing the country towards chaos.

He said the current crisis was due to the tussle between the army and judiciary, adding that had the institutions worked within their parameters as defined in the Constitution, there would have been no conflict.

In reply to a question, he said he was against the politics of resignations and maintained that he still thought that resigning from assemblies was a wrong decision.

Maulana Fazl said the MMA supreme council would meet on Nov 8 to discuss the current situation and take decisions pertaining to the imposition of emergency and other related matters.