MMA offers support to ARD in Tharparkar
Pakistan Times Punjab Bureau Report

LAHORE: The President of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and chief of Jamaat Islami (JI) Qazi Hussain Ahmed says the religious alliance will support the ARD’s candidate in Tharparkar in return for the ARD’s support for the MMA’s candidate in Attock.

When this scribe invited his attention to PPPP vote bank in the Attock constituency, Qazi said the MMA had surprised the people by obtaining large number of seats adding in Attock its candidate has massive support now.

Qazi said that he had not received a single phone call nor had formal contact with the PPPP’s exiled leadership for consensus candidate.

Addressing the press conference here Thursday after returning from the UK Qazi said the Jamaat was organizing the annual gathering at Minar-e-Pakistan on October 2-3 after three years.

Historic Gathering

He said the gathering would be the historic one as all parties of religious alliance would participate in the gathering besides religious scholars and people from all walks of life from inside as well as outside the country.

To a question regarding General Musharraf’s uniform, the MMA leader said the President should abide by his word of shedding uniform by December 31, 2004 and hoped that he would fulfil constitutional obligation under 17th Amendment.

Of Joint Candidates in NA-59 and NA-229

About joint candidates for bye-elections in NA-59 and NA-229, he said if the PPPP (ARD) is serious in putting joint candidates with the MMA, they had to support the MMA candidate in Attock in return of the religious alliance support for ARD’s candidate in Tharparkar.

He said the ARD central leadership had not contacted him personally but the religious alliance is still ready to bring joint candidates against Shaukat Aziz after reaching consensus.

Maulana Fazal rightly deserved for the slot of Opposition leader in NA and there was no need to make any deal on this point with ARD.

Fuel to Fire

Replying to a query about appointment of Pakistan’s Ashraf Jahangir Qazi in Iraq as a UN special envoy he said it was like adding fuel to fire.

He told a questioner that Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain broke the agreement on registration of foreigners in Wana (South Waziristan) with the MMA as he (Qazi) was informed by phone the same night that the local residents were asked to vacate the residences for operation.●