KARACHI, Dec 20: Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal acting president Qazi Hussain Ahmed has said the MMA will support the constitutional amendment bill only if it is in accordance with the understanding reached with the government team on Sept 6.

He said the MMA’s support would include acceptance of Gen Pervez Musharraf as president for the remaining three years of his term provided he got vote of confidence from the electoral college. The MMA legislators, he explained, would abstain from the vote of confidence.

Qazi sahib, who made a stopover in Karachi on his way to Tehran from Lahore to attend an international conference, was addressing a press conference at Idara Noor-i-Haq on Saturday night.

In reply to a question, he said there was absolutely no provision in the constitution to elect president through a vote of confidence. But, he added, through a one-time waiver Gen Musharraf would be allowed to complete his five-year term of which two years had already passed.

Qazi sahib described the MMA’s abstaining from the vote of confidence as a compromise formula to pull the country out of the constitutional crisis which he believed would be instrumental in restoring democracy and reestablishing the supremacy of the constitution and parliament.

He termed it a step forward, saying this flexibility on the MMA’s part would put the country back on the constitutional track and benefit people. He said the opposition parties would also be relieved as politics would no longer be in the army’s grip.

The Jamaat-i-Islami chief said that even after the adoption of the amended constitutional bill, the MMA would not join the government. The MMA, he added, would continue to sit on the opposition benches as it had differences with the government over its policies.

He said the MMA’s cooperation with the opposition parties would continue.