ISLAMABAD, Nov 8: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy have agreed to take a joint stand on the issue of National Assembly standing committees membership.

Talking to Dawn here on Saturday, MMA deputy parliamentary leader Hafiz Hussain Ahmed said he contacted acting ARD president Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and stressed the need for evolving a consensus over the issue.

The two leaders agreed in principle that a mutual decision would be taken on the future line of action after holding another round of talks and a joint delegation would meet National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain.

Both sides maintain that the opposition has not been given representation on the standing committees as per its numerical strength in the National Assembly.

Earlier, the two sides had unanimously decided in a meeting on Monday that a joint delegation would meet the National Assembly speaker to apprise him about the grievances of the opposition alliances.

However, due to some misunderstanding, the ARD released a letter to the press addressed to the National Assembly speaker and carrying the list of MNAs given representation on the standing committees and was signed by each member.

Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Hafiz Hussain Ahmed agreed they would take a decision to withdraw from the committees membership if they found the speaker insensitive to their grievances and not ready to remove them.

The ARD acting president informed the MMA leader that the ARD members resigned en mass, but their resignation had not been submitted to the speaker as yet.

The two leaders also decided that both sides would again meet on Monday after which a decision on meeting with the National Assembly speaker could be taken. Hafiz Hussain Ahmed said the speaker had not fulfilled his promise that he would take the opposition into confidence before finalizing the lists of 40 standing committees, including a special committee on Kashmir.

Meanwhile, according to a statement issued by PPP secretary-general Raja Parvez Ashraf here, “the matter of nomination on standing committees was considered at the ARD meeting and it was decided that since these committees had not been constituted fairly and properly the issue should be raised with the speaker.”

It was also decided that other opposition parties would be consulted and the speaker would be given time to rectify the situation.

Resignations of members were also collected in advance in case the points agitated were not rectified and there was a need to resign form the standing committees, the statement said.

“All members of the PPP endorsed this decision and there is no resentment in the party on this issue,” the statement added.