KARACHI, Oct 11: Deputy parliamentary party leader of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal Hafiz Hussain Ahmed has cautioned that any party opposing the proposed grand opposition alliance would lose popularity in masses.

Speaking at an Iftar dinner, hosted by the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam’s Baldia Town leader

Abdul Rahim here on Wednesday, he observed that certain parties’ staying away from the grand alliance was not a problem of MMA, but an internal matter of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy as they appeared to be components of the ARD.

Hafiz Hussain Ahmed said that Pakistan People’s Party had, on the occasion of moving no-trust motion in the National Assembly against the prime minister, supported the government on amending the Hudood Bill. He charged that PPP did not care about MMA, PML-N and other opposition parties.

He said that Benazir Bhutto herself had confessed that her party had engaged in talks with the government, and this had made it necessary that the PPP should now clear its position in this regard.

Turning to another issue, he regretted that there was no plot earmarked for a mosque in Musharraf Colony on Hawkesbay Road, and called for spare one for the purpose.

EXTORTION RESENTED: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) has described deduction from school teachers’ salaries in the name of Zakat and Fitra as a ‘cruel step’ and ‘another form of extortion’.