LAHORE, June 10: The government has invited the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal leaders for a consultative meeting on border situation with Gen Pervez Musharraf on June 18.

Information Minister Nisar Memon delivered the invitation on Monday. A summit meeting of the MMA has been convened in Islamabad on Wednesday to discuss the invitation, Kashmir, October elections and other issues.

The six-party Majlis and the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy had boycotted the earlier consultation. However, several MMA leaders have said this time their response would be different.

Meanwhile, the MMA coordination committee has completed its report and recommendations on cooperation with other political parties and alliances. The report will be discussed by the June 12 meeting and a strategy finalized.

Committee chief Liaquat Baloch said it had faced problems in coordination with the Pakistan Muslim League since the Sharifs had not authorized the local leaders to take important decisions. The local leaders, he said, had to consult the Sharifs in Saudi Arabia before responding to any proposal. This slowed down the interaction.

Talks with the PML(QA) could not progress well due to reluctance of some of its leaders to accommodate the MMA in what they regarded as their areas of influence.

About the National Alliance, he said it held sway in about 20 National Assembly constituencies — in Dera Ghazi Khan due to former president Farooq Leghari and in some interior Sindh areas due to former caretaker prime minister Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi and the Sindh Democratic Alliance.

He said the MMA parties did not share all the reservations of the PML and the Pakistan People’s Party about Gen Musharraf and the pro-government parties.

He recalled that the PML had caused much damage to the Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan by encouraging the late Maulana Abdus Sattar Niazi to break away from the JUP (Noorani). Some MMA components were similarly uneasy with the PPP for providing relief to India on many occasions without reciprocation from the Indian side.

Mr Baloch did not agree with the suggestion that Prof Sajid Mir, the Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith president, might abandon the alliance if did not enter into an alliance with the PML. He also did not see Allama Sajid Naqvi insisting on joining some pro-government alliance to seek some concessions from the government.