RAWALPINDI, July 29: Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Tuesday asked the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy to join talks, adding their talks with the government were never a deviation from principles.

In reply to questions at a Meet-the-Press programme at the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Press Club here, the MMA leader said the religious alliance stuck to its previous stand and there was no justification for the ARD leaders to boycott the talks. “The Legal Framework Order cannot be imposed on us,” he said.

He parried a question that the government has a hand in creating a split between the MMA and the ARD.

Maulana Fazl said they had no personal enmity with President Musharraf and would accept him as a civilian president. At first, he said, the PML-Q had proposed that Gen Musharraf would remain president in uniform for five years which the MMA utterly rejected but when they minimised their request to just one year, then the MMA also showed flexibility. “But this also has not been finally accepted,” he claimed.

The MMA leader said the religious alliance wanted to resolve all issues through dialogue. He suggested the government to put before parliament all issues which were considered controversial.

He reiterated the MMA stand not to accept anything short of giving parliament an upper hand. He said the LFO could be part of the constitution only when it was approved by a two-thirds majority of lawmakers in parliament.

Maulana Fazl came hard on the army and termed the military interference in politics totally unjustified.

“There is no need for the army rule in Pakistan.” He alleged that the army rulers had always distorted the constitution by amending it to suit to their interests besides interrupting the political process.

The MMA, he said, would safeguard the constitution and it would never leave it at the mercy of a single person. “We are not at war with the army but opposed to their playing with the sacred document.”