LAHORE, Dec 6: The MMA is still ready to accept Gen Pervez Musharraf as constitutional president if he takes off his uniform by Dec 31, says MMA deputy secretary-general Liaquat Baloch.

Asked at a press conference here on Monday whether the religious alliance would accept Gen Musharraf as president if he honoured his commitment about uniform, the MMA leader said: "His presidency will be automatically validated under the 17th Amendment if he take off his uniform by Dec 31."

Information secretary Pir Ijaz Hashmi and Lahore Jamaat-i-Islami amir Hafiz Salman Butt were also present. Asked if the MMA would march on Islamabad after its Rawalpindi public meeting on Dec 19, Mr Baloch said it could utilize all constitutional options.

He said Gen Musharraf could restore credibility of the army and stabilize the incumbent political system by honouring his commitment. The step would also allow the parliament, the army and the judiciary to work in their respective orbits, he added.

The MMA leader said the dual office act had no constitutional or legal standing and claimed that after implementation of the act Gen Musharraf would not only dissolve the parliament but also suspend the 1973 Constitution to introduce presidential instead of federal parliamentary system.

He told a questioner that the government had not yet responded to the reservations sent to it in black and white by the alliance about the National Security Council (NSC).

"The talks offer made by the government before the NSC meeting was just for public eyewash." When asked why the religious alliance had not attended the ARD's Malakand meeting on Dec 6 (Monday), Mr Baloch said it had not extended any formal invitation to the MMA.

About reports of PPP Senator Raza Rabbani's nomination as opposition leader in the Senate, he said the slot was the right of MMA's Prof Khurshid Ahmad because he had the support of 21 senators while there were only nine senators of the PPP.

Earlier, he alleged that the government was using police to force transporters not to give their vehicles to MMA activists desirous of attending its public meetings.

He said the "Musharraf" Qaumi Movement (MQM)'s Karachi meeting had failed despite all support of the federal and provincial governments. He said the MMA's supreme council would meet in the city on Dec 12 to take decisions regarding holding public meetings in Peshawar and Quetta, launching a mass contact march and planning an intensive protest against president-in-uniform's expected address to the joint session of parliament.

The alliance had earlier held its anti-Musharraf public meetings in Karachi and Multan on Nov 28 and Dec 5, respectively, while in Lahore and Rawalpindi the event was scheduled for Dec 12 and 19, respectively.