PESHAWAR, Jan 17: Federal information minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed has revealed that the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-i-Azam) will soon form a coalition government in the NWFP.

Speaking to newsmen after the formal launching of the Peshawar edition of the Urdu daily Khabrain here on Thursday, he said the PML-Q and the MMA held joint stand on the defence of the country and the enforcement of the Islamic laws in Pakistan. “It is a news for you and now you can predict the changes in future”, he told the newsmen.

He was of the view that the MMA and the PML-Q both were unison in their approach on issues of national importance and they would jointly work for the defence and solidarity of the country in the changing global scenario. The MMA leadership should realize the gravity of the situation and extend its full support to the Jamali government at the centre, he added.

Mr Ahmed said the landslide victory of the MMA in the province was a good sign for the stability of the provincial government and betterment of the general people.

Earlier, giving his speech on the launching of the daily, he said in the past 40 years and so, the Muslim states destroyed each other on the petty border issues and got the population to the level of penury. “In the present global scenario it is the duty of our political leadership to analyze the situation and take a firm stand on the national solidarity”, he added.

He said, in a light way, that they were agree with the MMA on the enforcement of the Islamic laws in the country, but they would not allow them to occupy Islamabad. If the MMA joined hands with the PML-Q, there was no need of any sort of lotacracy to plague the power politics, he added.

The MMA, he said, had missed the train as the PML-Q was ready to give some important ministries and post of National Assembly speaker to them. They could have paved the way for the enforcement of Islamic laws in the country, but opted to sit in the opposition, he added.

Speaking on the occasion NWFP chief minister Akram Khan Durrani said his government would make working relations with the federal government and work for the stability and solidarity of Pakistan.

He said NWFP government would never compromise on the defence of the country as it was most dear to them to defend the autonomy of the country. The addition of a new Urdu newspaper from Peshawar would strengthen the unity of the people and promote the national thought, he added.

He said the MMA government would work for the establishment of a just and welfare society in the province, because it had the support of the poor masses behind it. The general people had very great expectations from the MMA government, he added.

National Awami Party chief Ajmal Khan Khattak was of the view that nothing had changed since the dismissal of the Nawaz Sharif government. “We have become more dependent on the western donor countries and institutions. I see no silver lining in the future. We are rapidly approaching towards decline in all fields of our life”, he added.

The country, he said, could only be saved through a national consensus, reconciliation, cooperation and understanding amongst the political forces.

Awami National Party leaders Haji Adeel lauded the role of the national press which according to him had weathered many a worst storms and preserved its independent status. But, the judiciary, he said, had failed to defend its independence, he added.

He urged the politicians to learn from the national press and get the Parliament rid of the Legal Framework Order.