HYDERABAD, Sept 14: Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal Sindh president MNA Asadullah Bhutto and MMA leader in the Sindh Assembly Maulana Umer Sadiq formally announced here on Tuesday that the MMA had decided not to protest or boycott assembly session presided over by deputy speaker Rahila Tiwana.

They were talking to journalists after holding talks with the deputy speaker, provincial ministers Imtiaz Ahmed Sheikh and Nadir Akmal Leghari, Pakistan Muslim League provincial vice president Al-Haj Shamimuddin, and representatives of treasury benches at the residence of MMA MPA Abdul Rehman Rajput.

They said that keeping in line with the local tradition of not rejecting a daughter' request, the decision was taken in the larger interest of the decorum of the house, however, they clarified, no decision had been taken regarding withdrawal of the case against election of Ms Tiwana.

No deal or compromise had been struck between the MMA and the government on the one-point agenda aimed at protecting the interest of the people of Sindh in the assembly, they asserted.

Consent of opposition leaders was evident by the presence of People's Party Parliamentarians MPA Zahid Bhurgari, they said. Although the government thought that the boycott created hurdles, the MMA believed it was their democratic right to record protest, they maintained.

RAHILA TIWANA: Deputy Speaker Rahila Tiwana, while hailing the MMA decision, said that the party had set a good precedence. It was a step in the right direction because there were many issues that needed to be discussed on the assembly floor, which had been delayed unnecessarily because of the government- opposition clash, Ms Tiwana said.