Islamabad: Pakistan's newly powerful Islamic parties' alliance will demand that pro- Taleban cleric Maulana Fazlur Rehman be made the Prime Minister if they enter into a coalition to form government, an alliance leader said on October 15.

"If the MMA decides to join the government, then our Prime Minister will be Maulana Fazlur Rehman and we will support him," said Qazi Hussein Ahmed, vice-president of the Muttahidda Majlis-e-Amal (MMA).

Ahmed, who heads the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), one of six fundamentalist parties in the MMA, made the comment after talks with a leader of the pro-government Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q).

The PML-Q has been seeking to coax the MMA into a coalition to capture the majority needed to form government.

PML-Q executive Chaudry Shujaat Hussain met Ahmed at his residence ahead of an all- important meeting of MMA leaders to debate coalition options.

"We will chalk out our plans to form government at the MMA meeting and we will announce our decision after this meeting," Hussain said at his residence.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman heads the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islami party, known for its close ties to Afghanistan's ousted Taleban regime.

The MMA's unprecedented gains in last week's general elections landed them the balance of power in the national Assembly with 45 of its 272 general seats.

The two biggest winners, the PML-Q and the Pakistan People's Party of banned ex- premier Benazir Bhutto, with 77 and 63 seats respectively, have been intensively wooing the MMA to form a coalition government.

AFP