Shujaat, Ulema parleys on WP law put off

ISLAMABAD—A meting of ruling League’s Supremo Ch. Shujaat Hussain with a group of Ulema belonging to Majlis Thafuz Hudoodullah has been postponed.
“Ch. Shujaat Hussain has contacted me and requesting more time, has asked to postpone the scheduled meeting,” Maulana Hanif Jalindhary a member of Majlis Thafuz Hudoodullah told a private TV channel. He said Ch. Shujaat has asked for more time as he wanted more consultations with his party members on the issue.
Members of Majlis Thafuz Hudoodullah had held a meeting with Ch. Shujaat Hussain following an offer by the later to Ulema for forwarding their recommendations and reservations over contentious sections of the Women Protection Bill (WPB).
Members of the Majlis already held a meeting with Shujaat and informed him about their reservations over the bill, after which, the two sides agreed to meet again on December 09 to discuss the issue further.
The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q has decided to support President Pervez Musharraf’s re-election, due next year, with or without his Army uniform. PML-Q will support Musharraf if he decides against discarding his military uniform beyond 2007 “in the interest of national integration and sustained democracy,” PML-Q president Shujaat Hussain has said.
Also “we will support his re-election in uniform after his current term expires in 2007,” he said reacting to Musharraf’s recent remarks on his re-election in a TV interview. Musharraf had become the symbol of unity and the country needed him both as President and Army chief, Hussain said.
“Since he has so far acted in accordance with the constitution, we in the PML fully support him in both the capacities,” Hussain was quoted as saying. To a question, he said that all leaders of his party believed in the leadership of President Musharraf and no one had any objection to his continuing in military uniform.
To another question, the PML chief said that his party had contacted religious scholars for their opinion on the new bill presented in the National Assembly to further protect the rights of women. The objective was also to allay the apprehensions of religious leaders about the bill on rape and adultery that had been signed into a law, he said Members of the Majlis already held a meeting with Shujaat and informed him about their reservations over the bill, after which, the two sides agreed to meet again on December 09 to discuss the issue further.
“We have approached religious scholars who are certainly well read about Islam, compared to others. I want to tell political and religious leaders that we are not inflexible and are not avoiding accommodating their viewpoint on women’s right bill, especially when the issue is being discussed in the light Quran and Sunnah,” he said.—Agencies