Pak to hold bypolls if members resign on amendment

The Pakistan government on Saturday said it will hold bypolls if legislators of the Islamist

alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal carry out their threat of resigning from Parliament to protest amendments to the country's rape and adultery laws.

Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao told the media in Islamabad that the government would hold bypolls if the 66 members of MMA resigned from the National Assembly, the Lower House of Parliament.

Meanwhile, a major rift has developed in the MMA between dominant partners Jamaat Ulema Islami (JUI) and Jamat-e-Islami (JI) after JI leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed and JUI Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman engaged in heated exchanges over the issue on Thursday.

Hussain, who has taken a stand that MMA legislators should quit over amendments to the Hudood Laws, told Rehman to "ask your Members of National Assembly to submit their resignations, otherwise allow other parties of the MMA to do what they want."

Rehman made last ditch efforts to convince Hussain and leaders of the other four component parties of the MMA to delay the decision to resign, but in vain, Daily Times reported.

Later Rehman agreed to tender resignations but sought some time to consult his party legislators. A decision on this was expected to be announced on December 6.

Hussain told the media in Peshawar on Friday that MMA's decision to resign from the National Assembly is final and not open to negotiations. "Our members will individually hand over their resignations to the speaker when the assembly goes into session," he said.

Hussain said that the alliance's parliamentary party would meet in Islamabad on December 7 to prepare its strategy regarding the resignations, while terming reports about rifts in the alliance over the issue as baseless.

Hussain also said the MMA had decided not to resign from the Senate, the Upper House of Parliament, or quit the coalition government in Balochistan, adding that they would take appropriate decisions at the right time.

Meanwhile, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q, (PML-Q) president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said he is convinced that MMA legislators will not carry out their threat to resign.

He said he would not lose his sleep over the prospect of a political crisis in the country because there would be no need for by-elections.

He said it was beyond him why the MMA had been acting as though it had been wronged. He said all the proposals of a panel of religious scholars had been incorporated in the Bill seeking amendments to the heavily criticised Hudood laws.