PAS will find it difficult to proceed with the proposed unity talks with Umno if the demands by the Islamic party are not met, said party leader Fadzil Noor today.

"If Umno still insists on what they say - that they are powerless to act on our requests - then I do not know how we are going to sit and talk," said Fadzil.

PAS put off the talks last Sunday, stating that the environment was not conducive for the talks to take place.

It cited the police crackdown of a number of opposition ceramah and demonstrations in recent weeks.

It also proposed three main pre-conditions - the return of the oil royalty payments to PAS-ruled Terengganu; that party organ Harakah be allowed to be published eight times a month as before as opposed to twice now; and the retraction of the proposal by Umno to drop the word 'Islam' from the names of political parties.

Yesterday, Umno president and Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said that the party's supreme council has decided that the preconditions requested by PAS could only be met by the government and not by the party.

Two Mahathirs

Fadzil said he could not understand Umno's stand in differentiating itself from the government.

"There are no two Mahathirs. If there are two Mahathirs, then the Mahathir who is the Umno president can direct the Mahathir who is the prime minister to meet our preconditions.

"It is the party that determines the decision of the government as the party controls the government. What Umno decides is what the government decides," said Fadzil.

Fadzil said that in the matters of the oil royalty payments, restrictions on Harakah 's circulation and the retraction of the word 'Islam' from names of political parties, the government had acted on the demands of Umno.

"What we ask for are our rights. When Umno took away our rights, they did not hold any talks. Why should they want to hold talks now when we are asking for the return of our rights?" he asked.

Nevertheless, Fadzil said that the technical committees of PAS and Umno will continue holding meetings.

"Let us see - maybe the technical committee can come up with a new formula or something," said Fadzil, who is leaving for Hajj at the end of this week.

However, Fadzil said PAS will not move from the preconditions as they were decided by the party's central committee. The committee will only meet again when Fadzil returns in mid-March.