ISLAMABAD, June 8: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) has said that talks with the government would be resumed only when the atmosphere becomes congenial, and that can happen only when the ruling coalition tenders apology on having hurled accusations against the MMA leaders.
MMA President Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani was commenting on the invitation of Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali for resumption of talks.
Talking to Dawn on Sunday, he said instead of blaming the alliance for the failure of talks, the premier should first find out from Gen Musharraf how far he (Jamali) could go in his search for a consensus formula on the LFO and the uniform.
Asked whether in his opinion the system could be packed up by Gen Musharraf, the Maulana said there was no reason for taking such an extreme action.
“We can resume talks at any time but it appears the government side wants to delay these on the behest of Gen Musharraf,” he remarked.
Maulana Noorani said the religio-political alliance was still ready to resume dialogue provided the presidential team, led by Mr Zafarullah Jamali, was fully empowered to take decisions on contentious issues, the main being president’s uniform.
He said another important issue that remained unresolved was the separation of president’s office from that of the COAS and it was up to the president’s camp to come up with a definite cut-off date for the president to shed his uniform.
Giving a chronology of events, the MMA chief said the talks had started only after indications from the president’s camp that it was ready to negotiate on all issues. However, he added, every time when the two sides held talks and reached at some conclusion the process got bogged down as president’s side backtracked on the agreed points.
He said the latest talks which ended in the early hours of the morning, the government side kept insisting on allowing president wearing his uniform for at least one-and-half year and the MMA continued to refuse to consider the proposal.
However, when the team returned to president its suggestion was again rejected, and PML-N chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain in his last meeting with MMA Secretary-General Maulana Fazlur Rahman once again requested that the uniform issue be left to president’s decision.
Maulana Noorani said the government, by opening dialogue on the LFO, had accepted once and for all that it was an alien piece of legislation which required parliament’s assent by two-thirds majority.