ISLAMABAD March 12: Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly and secretary general of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) Maulana Fazlur Rahman said here on Sunday that absence of one voter had cost the alliance one Fata seat in the Senate.

Talking to newsmen in his parliament house chamber, Maulana Fazl reiterated the alliance’s determination to expose the black sheep who sold his vote in the Senate elections in the NWFP.

The alliance in its meeting on Saturday had decided to investigate and file reference against one of its MPAs.

Maulana Fazal claimed that only one MPA from the alliance had violated party discipline and voted for the opponent.

The alliance lost one of four Fata seats on a toss when its candidate and the opponent had a tie, each securing five votes.

This situation arose because of absence of Sahibzada Haroonur Rashid, MMA legislator from tribal area.

Referring to the situation in tribal areas against the background of the operation in North Waziristan Agency, he said the government was mishandling the situation to the benefit of US troops in Afghanistan.

Responding to a question, he said tribesmen were against the United States and not against Pakistan.

He said that before registering foreigners living in tribal areas the government should first register hundreds of thousands of foreigners living in Karachi and Punjab.

When asked about the seizure of heavy arms from some tribesmen, he said the weapons belonged to the era when the US was supporting the jihad in Afghanistan and it was the Americans’ job to reclaim them.