MANSEHRA, April 20: To release the mounting pressure on the issues of the Legal Framework Order (LFO) and the president in uniform, the federal government has decided to turn its cannons towards the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) government in the NWFP.

Reliable sources told Dawn that at the behest of the federal government, the Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q), the independent group in the NWFP Assembly and other opponents of the MMA government have joined hands to block the proceedings of the provincial assembly session commencing in Peshawar from Monday.

The PML-Q parliamentary party leader in the provincial assembly, Mr Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani, said due to the obstinacy of the MMA leadership on the issue of the LFO and the president’s uniform, “we are left with no option but to pay them in the same coin.”

He warned that if the MMA leadership did not shun its stance on the LFO and the president’s uniform and continued with, what he called, its “unethical and undemocratic” agenda, the smooth running of business in the provincial house would certainly not be allowed.

When asked for comments, Shahzada Mohammad Gustasap Khan, a spokesman for the independent group in the NWFP Assembly, said: “We are not against all the component parties of the MMA nor are we against all the leaders of the JUI-F (Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F).”

He said those who occupied the seat of power in the province, were actually responsible for the breach of the privilege of the elected members of the house. These elements were small in number, most of them non-elected, who were creating problems for the people at large and the government servants, he added.

Not only the opposition parties but even a large number of MPAs belonging to MMA were also annoyed with the wrong conduct of these elements, he claimed.

To a question, Shahzada Gustasap said: “Why to waste our energies on dethroning the government of anyone when the ruling clique in the province itself is doing this job pretty well.”