The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal’s (MMA) leadership has pursued the leadership of the Jamiat-e-Ulema Pakistan (Noorani) to keep the alliance intact and vibrant, sources in the alliance told Daily Times. “The MMA, at present, represents all major sects and jurisprudences of the religion through its representative parties, and if any of them pulled out, it would immensely harm its present stature as an undisputed Muslim body,” an MMA insider. Recently, the JUP-N had sent a letter to the six-party alliance’s top leadership, complaining of the dominance of two major parties – the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam of Maulana Fazlur Rehman – and hinting at a ‘bitter’ decision if the situation remained unchanged. Soon after that letter, the JUP-N leadership appointed late Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani’s son – Anas Noorani – as the chairman of the party’s supreme council, empowering him to take all crucial decisions. Besides, the party leadership appointed a three-member committee to contact all Barelvi groups and individuals to forge a Barelvi alliance, which has many leaders, including Mufti Munibur Rehman and Sunni Tehrik leader Abbas Qadri. The JUP-N kept nothing under wraps when its leadership announced an exclusive Barelvi alliance but the MMA’s Deobandi leadership received the clear message that the creation of such an alliance would deprive it of its representation to the Barelvis. Besides, it would have to face a parallel force in next year’s general elections.