Though the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) have apparently a similar stand on law and order issues, including military operations, the JUI-F is reluctant to oppose the federal government’s anti-militant policies, as it is more interested in ‘rule politics’.The NWFP government finds itself in an embarrassing situation these days. It requested the federal government to deploy the army in Swat and other troubled areas, while on the other hand its major ally, the JI, was demanding the federal government withdraw army from the areas where it had been deployed. The provincial government, headed by JUI-F’s Akram Khan Durrani, is under enormous pressure and confused as general elections are knocking at the door and the religious alliance has its vote-bank mainly in rural areas. “The JI and the JUI-F have scores of differences on the inside over political issues and the federal government’s anti-militant policies,” Brig (r) Mehmood Shah, former secretary home, tribal affairs and secretary FATA, told Daily Times.
Shah said Chief Minister Durrani asked for army’s help at the recent National Security Council (NSC) meeting and that the security forces were deployed in Swat and other areas on his request. The former home secretary said the JUI-F believed in ‘rule politics’ and could not afford to lose NWFP and Balochistan governments by opposing the centre’s policies.