ISLAMABAD, Feb 14: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) has again decided to boycott the National Security Council (NSC) meeting and announced to hold 'million-men marches' against the government in all the four provincial capitals next month.

This was announced by MMA chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed, MNA Liaquat Baloch and Allama Sajid Naqvi while briefing newsmen on decisions taken at the supreme council meeting of the alliance held here on Monday.

"We believe that the NSC will be presided over by a person who has illegally occupied the offices of the president and the chief of the army staff. Therefore, opposition leader Maulana Fazlur Rahman and NWFP Chief Minister Akram Durrani will not attend it," Mr Baloch announced in categorical terms.

Mr Baloch said the MMA had received an invitation for the NSC meeting to be held on Tuesday. He said Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in his meeting with opposition leader Maulana Fazlur Rahman had assured the MMA that the government would take steps to redress the grievances of the religious parties' alliance on the NSC issue. However, he regretted, the government had so far not taken any step to remove their concerns and reservations on the issue.

Mr Baloch said the main concern of the MMA was that the NSC should be presided over by the prime minister, and not the president. He said the MMA believed that Gen Musharraf was an unconstitutional president and his post of the COAS had also become controversial after he broke his commitment made with the nation that he would doff his uniform by December 31, 2004.

Mr Baloch said the MMA Supreme Council had finalized the plan for the next phase of its mass mobilization campaign against the government. He said 'million marches' would be held in Karachi, Lahore, Quetta and Peshawar next month and final dates would be announced soon.

Apart from this, he added, the MMA's central leaders would lead 'caravans' of people between various cities. These 'caravans' would journey from Peshawar to Lahore; Multan to Rahim Yar Khan; Sukkur to Hyderabad and Haripur to Bisham.

He said the MMA would also organize conventions of students, lawyers, labourers and ulema in all the four provincial headquarters after the 10th of Muharram. The next meeting of the MMA Supreme Council would be held in Peshawar.

Replying to a question about the possibility of cooperation with the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD), MMA chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed said in his meeting with PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif in Jeddah, it was decided that both the alliances would form a committee to chalk out the modalities for cooperation in the anti-government campaign.

In response to a question regarding the decision of the Commonwealth allowing Gen Musharraf to retain his uniform by 2007, Qazi Hussain Ahmed said it showed the double standards of the organization.

First the Commonwealth itself suspended Pakistan's membership due to the military takeover and now it has accepted it into its fold despite the fact that a serving general was still ruling the country. He alleged that the Commonwealth had taken this position due to the US pressure.

About the Balochistan situation, he said the MMA was against the use of military force and establishment of cantonments in the province. Responding to a question regarding meetings of MMA parliamentarians Maulana Akhtar Shirani and Ismail Buledi with Gen Musharraf, the MMA chief said they had gone there to discuss the flood situation in their individual capacity and their meetings had nothing to do with the MMA.

Earlier, Liaquat Baloch told reporters that the MMA would send its members to the Northern Areas to monitor the situation there. He said the MMA had sought the complaints and reports from leaders of both the Shia and Sunni communities in the Northern Areas to resolve the dispute.

Mr Baloch said the prime minister was making false claims of improvement in economic conditions. He said the incidents of kidnapping for ransom and robbery had increased. He criticized the government for increasing the prices of petroleum products, gas and electricity.

He regretted that the federal government had not responded to the requests made by the NWFP chief minister to provide relief assistance to the rain-affected people of the province.

He said the MMA was concerned about recent incidents in which two to three dams were ruptured in Balochistan causing heavy loss of human lives and property and demanded a judicial inquiry into the incidents.