ISLAMABAD, May 31: The Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and the Secretary-General of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, has said that it has not been decided yet if he will sit in the National Security Council (NSC) under the chairmanship of President General Pervez Musharraf.
The MMA has been in the forefront of opposition to the 13-member NSC, after it supported the government to get the 17th Amendment adopted by two-thirds majority of parliament.
Talking to newsmen in the parliament house lobby before the National Assembly session on Monday afternoon, Maulana Fazl said: "Let the acting president of the religio-political alliance, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, return from his visit abroad and convene the MMA Supreme Council meeting for discussing and deciding on his joining or not of the NSC."
Responding to a question whether he would consider relinquishing the office of MMA secretary-general to some other person in the alliance after his elevation to the position of the leader of the opposition, the Maulana said: "It may be considered if he felt any difficulty in running both the offices together."
He, however, added that such a proposition had never figured in discussions within the MMA leadership meetings. To another query, he said: "I will work in the present position as a non-partisan person and would take all the opposition groups and leaders along."
In this regard, he said he had a telephonic talk with the chief of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy and the People's Party Parliamentarians, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, before coming to the house and had exchanged pleasantries with him.
On the occasion, MMA's Deputy Secretary-General Liaquat Baloch told newsmen that in Monday's house business advisory committee meeting the opposition had impressed upon the government to ensure early presentation of the coming fiscal year budget so that sufficient time was available for debate on it.
He said it was decided that the opposition would be afforded enough time to discuss the controversy over the appointment of the leader of the opposition while it would also be allowed to raise the issue of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) President Shahbaz Sharif's deportation to Jeddah.
Meanwhile, according to an official handout, speaking to the participants of the committee, Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain said co-operation and goodwill of all parliamentary party leaders was of utmost importance to run the business of the house smoothly and effectively.
Among those who attended the meeting were Minister of State for Law Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Muhammad Raza Hayat Hiraj, Syed Khurshid Shah, Dr Sher Afgan Khan Niazi, Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Sardar Nasrullah Dreshak, Zahid Hamid, Ms Mehnaz Rafi, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, Syed Naveed Qamar, Mohammad Pervaiz Malik, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Khawaja Saad Rafiq and Iqbal Mohammad Ali Khan.