The leadership of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) has said that the NWFP chapter of the religious alliance would be restructured and re-activated at a meeting in the coming week. The NWFP chapter of the six parties religious alliance has formally met only twice during the past two-and-a-half years due to the leadershipâs lack of attention to the allianceâs affairs. âWe would meet and discuss the restructuring of the alliance in the NWFP and ensure more activities,â said Allama Ramzan Tauqir, one of the five provincial vice presidents of the MMA and adviser to the NWFP chief minister. He claimed that the meeting would help activate the alliance in the NWFP.Qazi Abdul Latif of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-S (JUI-S) is heading the provincial chapter of the alliance despite the fact that his party has been at loggerheads with the other five components of the MMA. Qari Gul Rehman, a JUI-S leader and an MNA from Karachi, last month announced renaming his faction to âJUI-Seniorâ instead of JUI-Sami, saying that Maulana Samiul Haq had been expelled from the party. The MMA leadership at the last meeting of its supreme council announced to part ways with Maulana Samiul Haq, saying that his own party members had expelled him. The situation in the province, however, is unchanged as Qazi Abdul Latif is still heading the alliance in a province where it has been in power for more than three years. However, the MMA leadership has expressed concern that the NWFP cabinet of the alliance held only two meetings since June 2003.
A three-member committee, consisting of Liaqat Baloch, Hafiz Hussain Ahmad and Pir Ijaz Hashmi, at a meeting with the senior MMA leadership on February 28 last year decided to convince Qazi Abdul Latif to head the provincial chapter. The committee also announced restructuring the provincial cabinet if Qazi did not agree to comply. Qazi after a meeting provisionally agreed to lead the body but has not presided a single meeting because his party did not allow him to go along with the MMA. The JUI-S had informally parted ways with the MMA in November 2004 and had expelled MNA Qari Gul Rehman and Haji Ayaz, a provincial minister, for participating in the activities of the alliance. One of the active members of the JUI-S, however, is the deputy speaker of the provincial assembly.