The US ambassador to Pakistan met with the leader of Muttahida-Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Tuesday, the embassy said, in the latest in a series of encounters with the country's opposition leaders. Anne Patterson met Maulana Fazlur Rehman, head of the Jamiat-ulema-Islam, embassy spokeswoman Elizabeth Colton said.
Patterson's meeting with Fazl, who has previously voiced support for Afghanistan's Taliban movement, came a day after she held talks with opposition leader Benazir Bhutto. Patterson and Fazl discussed a range of issues, including "the importance of having free and fair elections and lifting the state of emergency," Colton told AFP.
It was the US envoy's second meeting with Fazl, Colton said. The ambassador is expected to meet other political leaders in coming days, she added. On Monday, Patterson met former premier Bhutto after Washington called for a resumption of power-sharing talks with President Pervez Musharraf. Reports here say neither Benazir nor Fazl favour a boycott, while Nawaz Sharif and Qazi Hussain Ahmad, do.