For political revival, religious parties look to defunct MMA

Jamaat-e-Islami to host talks for reviva­l of former coalit­ion on Dec 11.

ISLAMABAD:

The religious right may have been late in arriving, but they’re all set to board the campaign bus.

The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) held a meeting of like-minded parties on Tuesday in an attempt to restore the defunct Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), an alliance of religiously-inclined political parties, and cash in on anti-American sentiments in the upcoming general elections.

“We are in constant contact with one another for MMA’s revival,” said Senator Khurshid Ahmed of JI. “Things are moving in the right direction.”

When leaders of different religious parties meet on December 11 in Rawalpindi, we will come up with the “final arrangements” for MMA’s revival, the JI leader said.

“It would be difficult to specify at the moment but some kind of coordination would definitely take place soon,” he added.

Leaders of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), JUI-Sami, Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan, Jamiat Ahle Hadith and Tehrik-e-Jafaria Pakistan will attend the meeting. They will also attend a rally JI is holding at Liaquat Bagh, Rawalpindi on December 11.

All six parties were part of MMA – the Islamist, electoral coalition that transpired, and collapsed, under former president Pervez Musharraf’s regime. In the only election that the party participated in, the 2002 general elections, the MMA garnered 58 of the 342 seats in parliament, a provincial majority in NWFP and provincial minorities in Sindh and Balochistan.

The coalition collapsed over divergent views of its members on whether to participate in the 2008 general elections.

JUI-F equally keen

“We are very keen to revive the unique alliance of the MMA,” said JUI-F Senator Dr Ismail Buledi, adding that the two main religio-political parties, the JI and the JUI-F, can play a vital role in its revival.

“Its restoration is a pressing need in view of current political circumstances,” he added.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the JI sought a guarantee from the JUI-F chief, Fazlur Rehman, since his party remains in coalition with the government in Balochistan.

“It’s the one major stumbling block in the way of MMA’s restoration,” said a senior JI leader.

Liaison with PTI, PML-N

The revival of MMA and cashing in electorally on anti-American sentiments is not the only thing on the religious right’s mind. The two main parties, JI and JUI-F, are also looking for new alliances with political parties, especially with Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), in the 2013 general elections.

“JI and PTI’s manifestos are the same; both have been opposing the US policy regarding Pakistan and Afghanistan,” said Senator Professor Ibrahim, chief of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chapter of JI.

His advance was welcomed by the PTI, with the usual rhetoric: “PTI is welcoming electable candidates across party lines who have clean political careers,” said the party’s central information secretary Omar Sarfraz Cheema.

Former JI leaders Ijaz Chaudhry and Mehmoodur Rasheed are an example of PTI’s policy, he added.

Meanwhile, JUI-F leader Dr Buledi said his party is also in contact with other political parties, including PTI, PML-N and other nationalist parties, for a new alliance.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 24^th, 2011.