PESHAWAR, Dec 31: The provincial chief of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Sami), Qazi Abdul Latif, said on Wednesday that the party's two MPAs would give a vote of confidence to President Gen Pervez Musharraf but NWFP Assembly Deputy Speaker Ikramullah Shahid said such a step would not be taken in a hurry.

"Our two MPAs will vote in favour of President Musharraf," Qazi Latif told Dawn from Kulachi. However, the deputy speaker, quoting party chief Maulana Sameeul Haq, said that despite differences with the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, the JUI-S would take a decision after consultation with the alliance's central council.

The JUI-S had disassociated from the MMA in the NWFP in September after accusing the alliance's main factions of ignoring smaller groups in the provincial cabinet. Qazi Latif said the party members were not bound to follow the alliance's guidelines as it had distanced itself from the MMA at the provincial level.

He said the MMA was non-committal in the process and it might leave the option open for the members after striking a deal with the government on the Legal Framework Order. However, NWFP Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Malik Zafar Azam reiterated that the MMA would not vote for the president in the provincial assembly.

"The MMA has made a deal with the government only on the LFO and has not made any commitment to give a vote of confidence to the president," he told newsmen here.

Source said the president might win over support of some MMA members in the NWFP Assembly. With the support of two JUI-S MPAs, the president is likely to get 35 votes in the 124-member assembly.

The MMA has 68 votes; the Pakistan People's Party (Sherpao), 13; the Pakistan Muslim League, 10; the People's Party Parliamentarians, 10; the Awami National Party, 10; the PML (Nawaz), five; the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf, one; and the banned Tehrik-i-Islami, one vote in the provincial assembly. There are six independent members.

The PPP-S, the PML, six independents and four dissidents of the ANP have announced that they would vote for the president. MPA Ibrahim Qasmi of the banned Pakistan Tehrik-i-Islami said he had yet to decide about the vote. The PPP, the ANP and the PML-N have vowed to boycott the vote of confidence.