PESHAWAR, July 1: NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani has said the federal government will itself feel insecure if Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal parliamentarians are disqualified on the basis of minor objections.

He also announced that the Election Tribunal’s decision of unseating MNA Ibrar Sultan would be challenged in the Supreme Court.

Speaking to reporters on Monday after a dinner hosted by Speaker Bakht Jahan Khan at the NWFP assembly, Mr Durrani asserted that the religious degrees issued by seminaries were equal to graduation degrees.

If the religious degrees were invalid, the Pakistan Election Commission could have debarred those holding such degrees from taking part in elections, but it had allowed them to participate and had not raised any objection.

The chief minister expressed the hope that the Supreme Court would decide the appeal against the Election Tribunal’s verdict on merit.

In reply to a question about the recognition of Israel, he said parliament and other elected forums were enough able to discuss and decide the issue. The MMA had its own separate stand on Israel, he added.

He said his government was not taken into confidence on the arrest of Al Qaeda members in the NWFP. “Neither our agencies have arrested them nor have they any information about such elements,” Mr Durrani said. The MMA government, he said, could deal with terrorists on its own and it would not allow any group to use the NWFP as a launching pad for its terrorist agenda.

The chief minister termed his meeting with Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali on Monday fruitful and said he had discussed all issues in a friendly atmosphere. He said the federal government had paid Rs6 billion as net hydel profit share to the province.