KARACHI, Aug 10: Jamaat-i-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad has said that if the National Assembly session is summoned without reaching an understanding on the constitutional package, the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal will not extend any cooperation.
Qazi Hussain Ahmad, who is also MMA’s vice-president, was talking to a group of reporters soon after his arrival at the Karachi airport on Sunday.
Responding to a question, he denied having made any deviation from the stated position on the Legal Framework Order, pointing out that the government’s negotiation team had always said that they had noted the points of disagreement and would respond to them after consulting their boss.
He made it clear that the alliance was not ready to have any secret deal, and that it would like the people to know about the talks thus far held.
“We have not made any new demand. The differences on the basic issues remain. We have not retracted from our principled stand, nor would we in the future,” he added.
“The LFO is the decision of an individual, it cannot become part of the Constitution without a two-thirds majority of parliament approving it.”
He said neither the MMA had accepted the LFO as part of the Constitution nor the government side conceded that this was not part of the Constitution.
The JI chief said his visit was meant to make assessment of the JI’s and Al-Khidmat’s relief activities for the rain-affected people in the interior of Sindh.
He left for Thatta and Keti Bander to review the situation there.
Meanwhile, JI secretary-general Syed Munawwar Hasan has warned that if the negotiations failed, the Aug 14 rally at Rawalpindi could turn into a sit-in.
He was addressing a high-level party meeting at Qaba Auditorium on Sunday which, besides reviewing the relief measures for the rain-affected people, formulated a strategy to meet the post-Aug 14 situation.
He reiterated that the MMA would never compromise on 58(2)B, the National Security Council and the uniform issue.
He said Gen Pervez Musharraf had made the LFO an issue of his ego, and was not prepared to budge an inch.
Our Correspondent adds from Islamabad: MMA’s deputy parliamentary leader in the National Assembly Hafiz Hussain Ahmad said on Sunday that PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain had brought the proposal of allowing Gen Pervez Musharraf to hold dual charge of the President and Chief of Army Staff for one year.
The MMA leader from Balochistan said that Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain was busy nowadays in “friendly fire”.
Hinting that Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali and Chaudhry Shujjat Hussain were on a different wavelength, Hafiz Hussain Ahmad said: “When Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain was holding negotiations, Sheikh Rashid Ahmad and Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali were busy in friendly fire, and now it is Chaudhry Shujaat’s turn.”
It was for the government to put its house in order, and determine who was undermining whom, he said.
He said the MMA had not yet walked out of the negotiations. “Our doors are still open and we are waiting when the government would respond.”