LAHORE, April 20: The MMA will hold an All-Party Conference on Balochistan issue in the city shortly for which it has invited top political leaders from the troubled province.

Religious-party alliance’s deputy secretary-general Liaquat Baloch told a press conference here on Thursday that the final date for the event would be decided after consulting all the MMA constituents.

Besides, he said, the MMA would hold seminars in Rawalpindi, Lahore and Multan on the subject and its leaders would discuss it during their addresses to district bar associations in Bahawalpur, Faisalabad, Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan and Rawalpindi.

Expressing concern over deteriorating law and order situation in Balochistan and tribal areas, he said army rules had ended up sowing seeds of hatred among people of smaller provinces against Punjab.

He said ‘ordinary Punjabis’ had nothing to do with military operations in tribal areas and Balochistan and these were purely the decisions of the army top brass lacking support from parliament, cabinet and political parties but these were putting people of the three smaller provinces against Punjabis.

He accused Gen Musharraf of using opportunists and political mafia to make Punjab a symbol of hatred among smaller provinces.

Answering a question, he said the option of resigning from parliament was discussed by the MMA supreme council in the recent past and any decision in this regard would be taken with consensus.

He said the MMA was in contact with all the opposition groups, including the ARD, on the issue. —Staff Reporter