LAHORE, Feb 7: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal decided here on Wednesday that its MNAs would not attend the National Assembly session till Feb 13 when a meeting of the alliance's supreme council would decide whether its legislators should resign from the assemblies.

The 24-member supreme council will meet in Islamabad on Feb 13 to deliberate on all the controversial issues and take a firm decision on the resignation issue through a resolution that would be binding on the six parties in the alliance.

Heads of the MMA parties met at the Jamia Al-Muntazir, the headquarters of the Pakistan Islami Tehreek, where they had brief informal talks with journalists. There was no formal briefing for the press on the outcome of the meeting. The leaders said that differences on major issues stood 'more or less' resolved. All of them appeared to have pinned high hopes on the supreme council meeting.

The alliance is seriously divided over the issue of resignation with Jamaat-i-Islami, one of its major components, demanding that the MMA legislators should quit the assemblies and the JUI(F) firmly opposing it.

It appears that the MMA has now gained a few more days for resolving the dispute. The leaders appeared satisfied with the interim decision of abstaining from the National Assembly for the next six days.

MMA President Qazi Husain Ahmad told reporters that Maulana Fazlur Rehman was indisposed and the MMA leaders did not want him to be under any tension.

"We have developed a certain level of understanding on all issues and the MMA will give a legal format to the supreme council decisions which all the component parties will be obliged to implement," Qazi Husain said.

Maulana Fazl said it was a 'lively' session. "We have decided that all MMA parties will abstain from the National Assembly session till Tuesday as an expression of solidarity.