Leaders of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) will try to promote the party as a moderate alliance with plans to improve relations with China, not interfere in other countries’ internal affairs and give special seats to women in the assemblies, according to a draft of its new manifesto, sources told Daily Times on Wednesday. | The alliance was in the process of making a manifesto that would give a “modern outlook” and would be acceptable to the West. They said that according to the new manifesto, the MMA was also in favour of making English a compulsory subject. |
According to an earlier version of the MMA manifesto, the party vowed to support to all suppressed nations, but the party had now made a U-turn with plans to focus only on Kashmir and Afghanistan, they added.
An MMA committee on the manifesto will discuss all these matters at a meeting on March 5. The sources said that MMA leaders had already agreed on the manifesto, and would approve it formally at the meeting, following which it would be tabled at an MMA Supreme Council meeting. The draft of the manifesto also proposes civil defence training for people aged between 18 and 45, lowering the prices of utilities, interest-free banking, the cancellation of amendments made by General Pervez Musharraf through the Legal Framework Order, free electricity for tube wells, an increase in the education budget in the manner of the defence budget, a uniform syllabus for all students, a reduction in oil prices and the construction of small and big dams. Professor Sajid Mir said that after the March 5 meeting, the approved draft would be presented to the MMA Supreme Council.