PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - PAS will not take part or ask its members to join the so-called red-shirt rally on Sept 16.

The party's secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan said it considered the planned rally part of the democratic right of the people to gather peacefully.

However, it said it would not take part or mobilise its members for the gathering due to several reasons.

First, Takiyuddin said, the date of the rally was too soon after PAS' planned Kongres Rakyat this Saturday at Shah Alam in Selangor.

Second, Takiyuddin said PAS had not been informed or invited officially by the rally organisers to join the rally.

"As such, we don¡¦t know the aim of the gathering, who else will attend, the programme and agenda, which would allow us to make a decision," Takiyuddin said in a statement Tuesday.

He said Sept 16 was also a special date when Malaysia was formed.

"PAS feels that holding a gathering which appears to be exclusively for one group is very unsuitable and in fact, against the spirit of Malaysia," he added.