MMA to work with PML-N

By Mohammad Imran

ISLAMABAD: Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) has decided to increase cooperation with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) within and outside Parliament.

“The MMA leadership has decided to initiate fresh contacts with the PML-N to increase cooperation,” MMA Deputy Secretary General Liaqat Baloch said while talking to Daily Times on Saturday.

He said he talked with Hamza Shahbaz, son of Shahbaz Sharif, and congratulated him on the Supreme Court’s verdict in which Mr Sharif was told he was allowed to return to Pakistan.

“The MMA leadership will also establish fresh contacts to start a consultation process with the leadership of the PML-N to enhance cooperation between the MMA and the PML-N,” Mr Baloch said. The MMA and the PML-N have common polices on most national and international issues, which means they are natural allies, he said. He said that on the issue of the Hudood Ordinance and amendments to the curriculum, the MMA and the PML-N would cooperate with each other.

He added that the Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) and the PML-N are sitting with each other under the flag of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy on three basic issues: the removal of President General Pervez Musharraf, restoration of the 1973 Constitution and the return home of their leaders.

“On most of the other issues raised within and outside the Assembly, the PML-N and the PPPP had different stances,” Mr Baloch said. He said that PML-N is against the repeal of the Hudood Ordinance, US-directed polices of the government, American Federal Bureau of Investigations operations in the country and the amendments to the curriculum.

He said these are the issues on which the MMA and the PML-N could further enhance cooperation because the PPPP supported the government on these issues.

The PPPP support for the government was clear when the MMA and PML-N staged a boycott during the 13th session of the National Assembly on the issue of amendments to the curriculum, but the PPPP supported the government’s stance, he added.

He said the MMA would try to build a good working relationship, initially on an issue-to-issue basis with the PML-N. Then, it would take more steps to increase cooperation.

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