LAHORE, Nov 4: Maulana Fazlullah, who is leading a militant movement in Swat, is ready to strike a peace agreement with the government, says chief of his own faction of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

Talking to reporters here on Saturday, he said Fazlullah had set only one condition for an accord with the government – implementation of an agreement he had reached with then provincial MMA government.He said that after a local jirga’s decision, a three-member delegation of the JUI (F) and the Jamaat-i-Islami had met Fazlullah recently.

Asked why were militants carrying out attacks on armed forces in Swat and tribal areas, the MMA secretary-general said: “If you bomb people then how can you expect them to shower petals on you.” “Masses can be forgiven for being short tempered, but not the governments.”He said religious groups could not be ignored in the current political process and claimed that everyone was contacting him because his party had become indispensable to run national affairs.

Asked if the MMA would be disbanded in the wake of differences among its components, Maulana Fazl said they would rather contest the next election from the six-party alliance’s platform.Asked if his party would quit the All Parties Democratic Movement, he said it would depend on the behaviour of leaders of the grouping.

About the Afghanistan situation, Maulana Fazl claimed that US ambassador to Pakistan Anne W. Patterson had told him in a meeting two days before opposition lawmakers’ resignation from the assemblies that her country was considering withdrawing forces from Afghanistan.

He said he had told her that the Afghan problem had further complicated after the launch of the so-called war on terror.