PESHAWAR, Sept 26: Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly and Chief of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (F), which heads the NWFP government and is a major partner in the ruling coalition in Balochistan, has again expressed serious reservations over a decision of the All Pakistan Democratic Movement to resign from the national and provincial assemblies.
Talking to Dawn after a meeting of parliamentary group of Muttahida-Majlis-i-Amal held here on Wednesday with MMA president Qazi Hussain Ahmad in the chair, the Maulana said he supported the decision to quit the National Assembly but was against resigning from the NWFP assembly which would cause the downfall of the provincial government.
Maulana Fazl, who did not attend the parliamentary group’s meeting, said the NWFP government was a ‘bargaining chip’ in the hands of the opposition and it should not be abandoned at the stage.
Later talking to private TV channels, the JUI (F) chief said that the opposition should wait for the Supreme Court decision on petitions challenging Gen Pervez Musharraf’s eligibility to seek re-election for another term.
He said if the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Gen Musharraf, the opposition would be deprived of the legal and moral basis of its stand against Gen Musharraf.
He also said that he was opposed to the timeframe set for resignation by the APDM, because such an important decision had been taken in his absence.
He stressed his reservations on this account, apparently because his party constitutes the core of MMA’s strength in the National Assembly and in the NWFP and Balochistan assemblies.
The MMA parliamentary group’s meeting decided that the alliance’s members of the National Assembly would submit their resignation to the speaker on Saturday.Maulana Fazl did not attend the meeting because of ‘some personnel engagements’. He was represented by JUI (F) provincial secretary-general Maulana Shujaul Mulk.
The All Parties Democratic Movement will discuss the resignation issue on Thursday.
The JUI (F) leader had on Tuesday requested the MMA Supreme Council not to take any hasty decision regarding resignations from the Frontier assembly. At present the MMA has about 70 seats in the 124-member assembly. If members of the MMA resign from the assembly it will be impossible for other parties to form a government and under the Constitution the governor will have to dissolve the assembly.
JI provincial chief Sirajul Haq, who is detained in Rawalpindi, sent his resignation to the NWFP assembly speaker on Tuesday.
JI provincial secretary information Mohammad Iqbal claimed that JUI (F) MNAs would resign from the National Assembly and Maulana Shuja had endorsed the decision of the parliamentary group on behalf of Maulana Fazl.
He said that MMA legislators would go to Islamabad on Saturday where they and other lawmakers of the APDM would hand over their resignation to NA Speaker Chaudhry Ameer Hussain. “It was a unanimous decision and all lawmakers of the MMA would abide by the decision of the APDM,” Mr Iqbal said. He said the timing of resignation of lawmakers of the NWFP assembly would be discussed in the APDM meeting.
Earlier, 15 MNAs and 27 MPAs of the JI in the NWFP assembly, including Speaker Bakht Jehan Khan, handed over their resignation to Qazi Hussain Ahmad at the parliamentary party meeting.