QUETTA, Feb 2: Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said that the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) have agreed on a four-point agenda for resolving the political issues in the country and providing relief to people.

The four points are: Ending military’s role in politics, complete restoration of the Constitution, sovereign status of parliament and reduction in prices of essential commodities and creation of jobs.

He said that both the alliances would work out a plan for waging a joint to steer the country out of crisis.

Adressing a press conference at the MPA hostel here on Thursday, he called for setting up a sub-committee comprising treasury and opposition members of the Balochistan Assembly to visit Dera Bugti and Kohlu to recommend measures to resolve the issue peacefully, instead of by use of force.

Maulana Fazl stressed the need for implementing the recommendations of the parliamentary committee on the Balochistan issue and said that the MMA opposed the military operations in Balochistan and Waziristan.

He also said that the alliance respected the resolution adopted by the Balochistan Assembly against the establishment of cantonments in the province.

He criticized a statement of PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto that election held under General Pervez Musharraf would lead to emergence of Hamas-like religious groups and PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif’s statement that democratic government could act against terrorism in a better way.

“Such statements by ex-premiers will affect the unity of the opposition parties which have agreed to launch a joint struggle against the one man’s rule,” he said and added that the MMA believed in democratic struggle within the parameters of the Constitution. Maulana Fazl criticized the uproar in the West over the victory of Hamas in Palestinian polls and said that the Hamas’ sweeping victory was a clear message to anti-Muslim forces that movements could not be suppressed by force. He called upon the West to respect the verdict of the Palestinian people.

He also criticized US President Bush’s state of the union speech in which he had lashed out at Iran and Syria. Maulana Fazl said that political freedom could not be achieved through genocide or bloodshed as witnessed in the streets of Iraq and Afghanistan.

He urged the government to break off diplomatic relations with Norway, Denmark and France if these countries did not apologize for the publication of cartoons against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). He praised Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Libya for taking strong diplomatic actions against the three states.