PESHAWAR, Dec 4: Jamaat-i-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad said on Tuesday that candidates of all parties in the Mutahidda Majlis-i-Amal, except the JUI (F), would withdraw their nomination papers on Dec 15.

“Five MMA parties have decided to boycott the coming elections,” Qazi Hussain said at a news conference after a meeting of the JI provincial executive council at Markaz al Islami.

Candidates of the party who have filed nomination papers for the national and provincial assemblies also attended the meeting.

Party sources said that the council and the candidates unanimously endorsed the decision of JI’s central shura.

The JI leader was optimistic that despite differences with the JUI (F) leadership, the six-party alliance would remain intact. He said the MMA had been formed to promote harmony among various sects in the country.

The JI leader ruled out any possibility of reviewing the decision about boycotting the elections and said the MMA would take part in the polls only if an independent Election Commission was constituted.

“We want an impartial caretaker government and formation of an independent Election Commission,” he said.

He alleged that President Pervez Musharraf had inducted handpicked people in the caretaker set-up. Major political parties had reservations on the composition of the Election Commission, he added.