Majlis-i-Amal may not support NSC bill

Unhappy over the government policies, the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) is unlikely to support the National Security Council-2004 bill to be tabled in the National Assembly.
President Pervez Musharraf has summoned the National Assembly to meet on March 8 in the Parliament House.
The MMA, which helped the government resolve the Legal Framework Order (LFO) tangle, was thinking not to back the NSC bill.
MMA sources told Business Recorder here on Monday the leadership was upset over the government policies, particularly its changed stand on Kashmir, the ongoing operation in tribal areas, and handling of alleged nuclear proliferation issue.
"A formal decision about the MMA's policy on NSC will be announced after the upcoming meeting of the Supreme Council on March 5," sources in MMA maintained.
Ironically, it will not have any impact even if the MMA did not support the bill, as the government needed simple majority to get the bill through the Parliament, they added.
"However, this move is believed to improve MMA's image among the masses and in the opposition camp," the alliance sources conceded.
Opposition parties in the Senate and the National Assembly have been excluding MMA from their meetings and initiatives in and outside the Parliament. They have labelled the alliance of religious parties as 'friendly opposition'.
The Supreme Council meeting is taking place after several weeks, following MMA's support to the coalition government on 17th Amendment (LFO) in the Parliament in December last.
There are several pertinent issues, which remain unresolved, including JUI's (Sami) threat to quit the alliance and the decision on naming the successor of late Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani. Besides, Prof. Sajid Mir's Jamiat Ahle Hadith is also not happy over the MMA's support to the government on settlement of LFO crisis.
Meanwhile, the National Assembly is all set to initiate debate on President Pervez Musharraf's address to the Parliament's joint sitting.
The Senate is expected to conclude the debate on the President address this week after which it will take up the National Security Bill.