ISLAMABAD, Aug 28: The MMA has made it clear to the PML-Q that it is the responsibility of the government to present the constitutional package in the shape of a bill before the assembly and in no case would it be presented by the opposition.

Conceding that the government seemed to be more serious “this time” in seeing that the talks met with success, Liaquat Baloch, the MMA’s top leader, nevertheless told reporters here on Thursday that the religious parties’ alliance would continue its protest with the same intensity in the National Assembly on Friday as before.

Without giving details of the constitutional package in the making, he said it would contain all the seven contentious points raised by the opposition parties in a meeting of party heads with the prime minister and later in the committee headed by Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain.

With ARD having already indicated that its component parties would press ahead with their protest plans inside the assembly, the NA appears set to witness another noisy session on Friday.

Mr Baloch told reporters here on Thursday that the protest would be within the parliamentary norms, and that the MMA would not support any move to create an ugly situation in the assembly.

When asked about the mode of protest, he said the opposition would continue to raise slogans inside the assembly as it had been doing for the last three days.

On the other hand, sources in the ARD disclosed that the alliance would chalk out its protest strategy in a meeting of the ARD parliamentary group to be held before the start of the session.

The sources, however, said the ARD members wanted to adopt some new and what they called “innovative methods” to disrupt the proceedings of the house. They said a new slogan “Grade-22 employee as president unacceptable” was likely to be used.

The sources said the alliance had been considering using a special device in the National Assembly to amplify their slogans as the treasury members were using headphones to shut their ears to the opposition’s noises.

Mr Baloch, who also participated in the talks with the government team in Lahore, categorically said the MMA would continue its protest till the time the government brought the constitutional package in the National Assembly.

Mr Baloch said that he had briefed the MMA leadership on the talks and a final decision would be taken by the religious parties’ alliance after a meeting of its supreme council in Islamabad on Monday.

He expressed the hope that the next round of talks with the government would be held within a day or two.

He said the MMA took part in the talks despite the fact that Gen Musharraf once again tried to sabotage it by issuing a controversial statement on the LFO. “We participated in the consultation as we did not want to damage the ongoing process.”

Mr Baloch once again demanded to make the agenda of the MMA a part of the business of the house during the current session of the NA, if it wanted to conduct the proceedings smoothly.

He criticized the speaker and ministers for encouraging those treasury members who had used “abusive” language during the assembly proceedings.

The MMA leader urged the other coalition partners like Sardar Farooq Leghari, Safwanullah Khan, Rao Sikandar Iqbal, Ijazul Haq and Hamid Nasir Chattha to play their political role. At the moment, he said, they were part of the government but with no say.

He asked the government to take decisions at the earliest as the people were fed up with the present crisis and the prolongation of dialogue.

APP adds: The MMA leader said the dialogue with the government had helped end the deadlock and there was progress on the LFO for its presentation before parliament in the shape of a unanimous constitutional package.

Mr Baloch said that he, along with Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, held four rounds of talks with PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and senator S.M. Zafar, who represented the government.

As a result of these talks, a positive development has been witnessed on the question of LFO, he added.