Old friends: Talk of reviving MMA stirs up again

JI, JUI-F Peshawar chapters discuss possibility of making alliance again

SHABQADAR: The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Peshawar chapters have shown interest in reviving the now defunct Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal or the MMA.

Formed in 2002, the MMA was a political alliance consisting of religious political parties that opposed ex-president Pervez Musharraf and his policies, particularly on Afghanistan.

Despite its conservatism, the alliance remained in existence for a short period of time when the JUI-F left the religious conglomerate over political disagreements on the issue of boycotting the general elections held in 2008.

With the next general elections just one-and-a half years away, the two major components of the alliance have once again revived contacts. In this connection, a meeting of the JI and JUI-F Peshawar leadership was held at the JI provincial deputy general secretary Bahr Ullah advocate’s home where he invited the Peshawar-based leadership of both the parties for dinner.

“The local leadership of both the parties have agreed in principle to make a formal request to their provincial and central leaderships to reorganise the MMA.”

JUI-F provincial information secretary Abdul Jalil Jan confirmed that the two sides had met at the dinner and said “from day one, it is the desire of both the parties to reorganise the MMA for the unity of religious political parties”.

Meanwhile, JUI-F Fata general secretary Mufti Muhammad Ijaz Shinwari disagreed with Jalil Jan and said “There is no last word in politics”.

“How can the JI and the JUI-F come on a single platform when the former is a junior partner in the coalition government of PTI in K-P?”

“If the JI is sincere in unifying religious parties, then they should first leave the PTI-led coalition government,” he said.

Moreover, JUI-F workers at lower levels would not accept a coalition in the form of the MMA in the future due to past mistrust, Mufti Shinwari said.

JI provincial general secretary Abdul Wasi also aired mixed views about the revival of the MMA.

He said: “If both the parties have a meeting in Peshawar, it did not mean that talks about a possible coalition have automatically revived,” adding “The decision about any such coalition will be decided by the JI central leadership.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 1^st, 2016.