islamabad • Islamist grouping Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal wants assurances from secularist Alliance for Restoration of Democracy that controversial rape laws will not be reformed before it signs the Charter of Democracy.

The MMA will present its reservations on the Charter of Democracy, with emphasis on resistance to changing the controversial Hudood Ordinance, which equates rape with adultery, in writing to the ARD in a meeting today, sources said here Monday.

Sources said that the MMA would seek assurance that any political party coming to power would not seek to amend or repeal Islamic laws, including the Hudood Ordinance.

They said the MMA would not sign the Charter of Democracy until all its reservations were addressed. They said that the MMA had reservation about a clause in the charter which said that political parties wanted to curtail powers of the Federal Shariah Court.

Sources in the religious alliance say that the written reservations were likely to be handed over to the ARD in a meeting at the residence of Pakistan Muslim League-N leader Nisar Ali Khan.

MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Secretary General Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Deputy Parliamentary Leader Hafiz Hussain Ahmed and Deputy Secretary General Liaquat Baloch would attend the meeting on behalf of the religious alliance.

The sources said the MMA also wanted a clear policy from Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party and Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-N, the major components of ARD, on the ongoing military operations in the tribal areas and Balochistan.