TORONTO, July 13: Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal chief Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani said here on Sunday that the government-opposition negotiations were likely to begin in the third week of July.

Talking to Dawn, he expressed the hope that the talks would be fruitful and national issues would be resolved soon.

Maulana Noorani, who is on a 12-day tour of Canada, warned that the failure of the government-MMA talks might lead to agitation. “We intend to go to the negotiating table with utmost sincerity. We want the fragile political system to stay and gain strength in days to come,” he said, reiterating that the Legal Framework Order was not acceptable to the opposition.

Maulana Noorani, who is president of Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan, said the country needed a full time Chief of Army Staff in view of the potential danger on its eastern and western borders.

Asked whether the MMA would start negotiations in his absence, he said: “I would be back home on July 24”.

Answering a question, he said anti-Islam and anti-Pakistan forces wanted to create a gulf between the armed forces and the masses but, he added, the MMA wished to avoid confrontation. “That’s the reason we have been telling the government that the 1973 Constitution, which is a symbol of national unity, should not be altered arbitrarily,” he said.

Asked to comment on reports that President Pervez Musharraf was left with no option but to dissolve the assemblies, Maulana Noorani said: “In my personal opinion, he will not do so in his own interest. And in case, he dismisses the government under the controversial clause of 58(2)b, then I think he may not survive for a longer period”.

In reply to another question, he said the MMA was in favour of talks with India. “Our stand is that Pakistan should go to the negotiating table only if it feels that talks will be fruitful, for past experiences show that talks have not produced any result as the Kashmir issue remains unresolved”.