LAHORE, Oct 12: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal will not tolerate any obstacle to implementation of its election manifesto, alliance chief Maulana Shah Ahmad Noorani said on Saturday.

Speaking at a telephonic press conference from Karachi, he said implementing the election manifesto was the first and foremost priority of the MMA and unlike other parties it would not ignore its responsibility in this regard.

MMA’s central information secretary Pir Ijaz Hashmi was also present on the occasion.

Maulana Noorani said the religious parties alliance would form governments in the NWFP and Balochistan but at the Centre it would play the role of a strong pressure group.

It would extend cooperation to the like-minded parties for forming the federal government, he added.

“All the parties enjoying the mandate of the electorate are respectable for us and talks will be held with them for future cooperation,” he said.

MMA’s coordination committee chief Liaquat Baloch says leaders of the PML-Q and the National Alliance Chaudhry Shujaat Husain and Farooq Leghari, respectively, have contacted Qazi Husain Ahmad and Maulana Fazlur Rahman to discuss future cooperation in parliament.

But he made it clear that the PML-Q would have to shun the army’s umbrella before seeking MMA cooperation as the latter wanted to limit the armed forces to their constitutional role of defending the borders of the country.

Answering a question, he said the MMA had made only seat-to-seat adjustment with the PML-N with no post-election promise.