The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) has warned that parliament will not be allowed to function nor will President Musharraf be allowed to address a joint session of parliament if the government fails to release detained MNAs Qazi Hameedullah and Javed Hashmi. MMA leaders issued this warning while speaking at a general workers meeting late on Tuesday night in Karachi. Prominent among those who spoke were Hafiz Hussain Ahmad, Liaquat Baloch, Allama Hassan Turabi, Dr Mairaj ul Huda Siddiqui, Hafiz Mohamamd Taqi, Khan Mohammad Rabbani, Qari Sher Afzal, and Qazi Ahmad Noorani.Liquat Baloch, MNA and leader of the MMA, said that the alliance would continue its efforts to eliminate what he called the "armed forces' intervention in the political affairs of the country". He termed the PPP a major deterrent factor stopping major political forces from gathering on one platform to coordinate their efforts against the government. The PPP had sabotaged all decisions taken by the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) under the leadership of its late president, Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, and was following "a similar line of action even today", he alleged. He remarked that Asif Ali Zardari, PPP leader, had recently said that the party was holding negotiations with the establishment and the army, which, Mr Baloch said, would have negative repercussions not only for the party but also for the national politics.