LAHORE, July 21: The MMA is following a wait-and-see policy regarding an anti-government movement as it believes that the time is not ripe for any such movement.

According to Syed Munawwar Hasan, secretary-general of the Jamaat-i-Islami, the alliance does not want to exhaust its energies by entering into a controversy with the government and expects many of the issues to be resolved by October.

The MMA is yet indecisive over sacrificing its government in the NWFP province over the uniform issue. "This and other options will be considered after Dec 31 (the date by which Gen Musharraf has promised the nation that he would do away with his uniform)."

According to him, many things would crystallize on the international scene in the last quarter of the calendar year. Answering a question on Wana, he said the MMA was repeatedly holding talks with the government for want of any other option.

"You can only negotiate with a hijacker and not fight with him," he argued. He alleged that the government was breaching agreements on Wana because it could not get them "approved" from the "quarters concerned".

Blaming the NWFP governor for spoiling the understanding reached between tribesmen and the government, Mr Hasan alleged that Iftikhar Husain Shah had an agenda different from that of Gen Musharraf on the issue.

"Both Mr Shah and the US ambassador in Afghanistan, Zalmey Khalilzad, share so similar views on Wana that it gives one the feeling that there is some common source steering both of them."

The MMA leader warned Gen Musharraf that his importance for the Americans would decline once Shaukat Aziz took over as the prime minister for the latter was more loyal to US interests.

Mr Aziz had served the cause of the IMF more than anyone else by giving five anti-poor budgets as finance minister, he added. Replying to a question, Mr Hasan said that unlike the unceremonial removal of Jamali as prime minister the establishment could not act unilaterally against the NWFP government for it enjoyed popular support.

"Had it not been difficult for the establishment to go against popular opinion, Gen Musharraf would have amended Hudood and blasphemy laws through an ordinance much earlier."

Moreover, he claimed that the federal authorities were divided over action against the NWFP. One of the groups believed that the action might lead to deterioration of the situation in the sensitive province.

Answering a query about the federal government's opposition to the Hasba Bill, the Jamaat leader said the Musharraf government feared that its benefits for the masses would see the MMA sweep the forthcoming local body polls.

However, he would not say why the MMA government was not enacting so fruitful a law and not ignoring annoyance of the federal authorities on the issue. Replying to a question on the Karachi situation, the former MNA said the MQM was facing internal rifts and its exiled leader Altaf Husain had admitted the fact in a recent speech.

He claimed that Sindh Governor Ishratul Ibad was also to be replaced on Husain's insistence but the agencies intervened believing "a known devil is better than an unknown devil".

He said Karachi was paying the cost of Gen Musharraf's bid to block PPP's entry in the power set-up of the province. He, however, contended that the army and the MQM had been travelling in different directions. "The army and the masterminds of Jinahpur (state) cannot go together (for long)."

About divisions in the opposition, he alleged that it was the PPP which had split the joint opposition. The PPP, he said, always tried to strengthen the government against the MMA.

It backed out of an understanding to vote for Maulana Fazlur Rahman as prime minister and now was illogically demanding of the Maulana to vacate the opposition leader's office for Makhdoom Amin Fahim, he said.

He did not agree with the suggestion that MMA policies had resulted in reduced support for the alliance. Had this been true it would have become difficult for it to rule the NWFP province, he said.

The by-election track record also contradicts the notion as the alliance has not lost any seat in the NWFP and the Punjab, he added. The alliance's policies had rather countered and cornered the ANP in provincial politics, he said.