The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) on Tuesday withdrew its decision to resign from the National Assembly, and unanimously elected Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Maulana Fazlur Rehman president and secretary general of the six-party religious alliance for another two years. The party also decided to end its boycott of the National Assembly. “After a lengthy debate on the issue, the MMA central council decided to withdraw its decision of parliamentary resignations,” MMA Deputy Secretary General Liaquat Baloch told a press conference at Qazi Hussain Ahmed’s residence. “The Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan wanted to go ahead with parliamentary resignations in protest at the Women’s Protection Act, but the other parties – Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl, Jamiat Ahle Hadith, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Senior and Pakistan Islami Tehrik – opposed this decision,” said Baloch.
However, he said that the option of parliamentary resignations would remain open, and the MMA would quit if all other opposition parties went for en-bloc resignations from the NA in the future. He said that the council was of the view that the current situation at the national and international levels was dangerous, therefore the MMA should not resign. Baloch said a meeting of the MMA parliamentary party would be held at Parliament House today. He said that the elections for the MMAÂ’s central offices had also been completed, and Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Maulana Fazlur Rehman had been unanimously elected president and secretary general of the alliance.