ISLAMABAD, Sept 3: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal has taken notice of reports about its secretary general Maulana Fazlur Rahman being in contact with the ruling Pakistan Muslim League and unanimously decided that there will be no dialogue with Gen Pervez Musharraf, by any of its leaders or any of the parties in the alliance.

The supreme council of the alliance in its meeting on Monday resolved to launch a campaign from the platform of the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) and to bring people on the streets as soon as the schedule for Gen Musharraf’s re-election was announced, sources told Dawn.

At the end of the meeting, Maulana Fazl said the alliance had decided that in the event of dialogue becoming inevitable, the entire MMA would be involved in it, instead of an individual or a particular party.

MMA president Qazi Hussain Ahmed told reporters that the MMA leadership had decided that Gen Musharraf would not be accepted at any cost -- in uniform or without it.

He said the alliance had advised the government to contact the MMA if it was interested in any dialogue, instead of meeting individuals or engaging any of its parties.

It may be mentioned that after a deadlock in the dialogue between a presidential negotiating team and PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto, the ruling coalition had pinned great hopes on its talks with Maulana Fazl.

Sources told Dawn that

MMA leaders at the meeting questioned the Maulana about his repeated ‘secret’ talks with the PML leadership and the Maulana gave account of his just one meeting with the Chaudhrys held on the latter’s request.

The Maulana agreed with the alliance leadership that there should be no more contact with the government as Gen Musharraf was sinking and he needed a final push from the combined opposition.

During his talks with newsmen, Maulana Fazl was asked if the MMA or the APDM would field a candidate against Gen. Musharraf in the presidential election. He said: “We intend to take more stringent steps and will give surprises when such an occasion arises”.

He said that the MMA had prepared its election manifesto which would soon be adopted by its general council and would be made public after the announcement of the schedule for general elections.

Qazi Hussain said the alliance would fully participate in the welcome to be accorded to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif in Islamabad on September 10.