The rift between the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) widened when Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Amir Qazi Hussain Ahmed asked Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, in a harsh tone, to resign from the National Assembly along with other party parliamentarians. “Ask your MNAs to submit their resignations, otherwise allow other parties of the MMA to do what they want, ” sources quoted Qazi as telling Fazl during a meeting of the supreme council on Thursday.Sources said that Fazl made last ditch efforts to convince Qazi and the leaders of the other four component parties to delay the decision to resign, but in vain. Later, Fazl agreed to tender resignations but sought some time to consult his party senators, MNAs and MPAs. Sources said Fazl told the meeting that JUI-F Balochistan chief Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani and other members belonging to the same province were not ready to resign. “They are not ready to act according to my advice,” sources quoted Fazl as saying. On this Qazi said, “They should follow the discipline of the alliance.”
Qazi recalled that the decision regarding resignations was taken in the last supreme council meeting and that Maulana Sherani had also supported the decision, sources said. Maulana Sherani had refused to resign from the assemblies on the issue of Nawab Akbar BugtiÂ’s killing and had said that if the MMA wanted to quit the assemblies, it should do the same over the issue of the Hudood Bill, sources quoted Qazi as saying.