ISLAMABAD, July 4: Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal president Qazi Hussain Ahmed is likely to meet former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif during his visit to the United Kingdom from July 10.

MMA deputy secretary-general Liaquat Baloch told Dawn on Tuesday that the alliance’s chief would participate in a conference of the UK Islamic Mission.

He said the planned visit depended on the health of the MMA chief and if he went there, he would meet the leadership of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy in London.

Both the exiled leaders expressed their desire to meet the MMA president to discuss with him the prevailing political situation at home with reference to the charter of democracy as well as his deadline for launching a movement against the government in September.

Mr Baloch said that the ARD’s decisions to move a no-confidence motion against a resolution to impeach the president were good options to mount pressure but the joint opposition ought to consider resorting to using street power. He said that so far the ARD leaders had held meetings among themselves and now the need was for them to join hands with other opposition parties as well.

Commenting on Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rahman’s reservations with regard to the Jamaat Islami’s move to get resignations from its members of parliament, Mr Baloch said the party had taken the initiative in accordance with a decision taken unanimously by the MMA supreme council.

The option of submitting the resignations would only be used by consensus of all opposition parties at an appropriate time, he said.

He said there was consensus among almost all the opposition parties that the country could not be rid of the military rule without a sustained and forceful campaign, for which a grand national alliance was needed.

In rely to a questions, he said the ARD and MMA leaders might make a breakthrough in their talks after getting certain assurances from each other.

Mr Baloch accused the centre of meddling in the July 11 elections in Azad Kashmir. He said some leaders had met President Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad after orchestrating a split in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir People’s Party.