Islamabad: In a major setback to President Pervez Musharraf, the Islamist alliance Muthahida Majlis Amal on September 24 rejected his modified Constitutional proposals and decided to join the mainstream Opposition to agitate for his ouster as Army Chief.

After a three-hour-long meeting of its Supreme Council on September 23 night, which raised speculation that the alliance could be headed for a split over the issue of opposing Musharraf's package, the MMA announced early September 24 that it had rejected the proposal and decided to call off all future talks with the government.

Its leaders told reporters that a three-member MMA delegation would call on Prime Minister Zafarrullah Khan Jamali to convey MMA's decision to reject the package and inform him about its resolve to insist that Musharraf quit as Chief of Army by December 2004.

Musharraf is currently in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

The modified package, under which Musharraf "agreed in principle" to cut down his powers and submit his controversial Legal Framework Order (LFO) for the approval of the Parliament, was presented to MMA on September 19 after it was approved by the Cabinet.

MMA spokesman Liaqat Baluch said religious parties rejected the package as they felt that their demands about the President's Army uniform, his discretionary powers and the retirement age of judges were altogether ignored in the official draft proposal.

PTI