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| India-Pakistan |
| JUI-F mulls goodbye to MMA |
| 2007-10-24 |
| A debate has started within the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) on whether to quit the “dysfunctional” Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) before the general elections or not, party sources said on Tuesday. “Staying with the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) in the alliance is politically risky, but campaigning without the MMA platform is not less than a gamble,” a senior JUI-F leader said on condition of anonymity. “Hawks in both parties are making strong arguments to part ways with each other.” The JI and JUI-F, the two major components of the alliance, are having differences over the MMA decision to dissolve the NWFP assembly before the presidential poll. “The people perceive the MMA as a symbol of unity among religious parties. If the MMA breaks then the public opinion will also change,” he said. Another JUI-F insider said that JUI-F NWFP chief Senator Gul Naseeb was against staying together with the JI. Gul Naseeb told a JUI reception in honour of former NWFP chief minister Akram Durrani and his cabinet members on Tuesday that there was “not much difference between the JI and secular parties”. Gul asked party leaders how the JUI-F could work together with the JI when his party had beaten the JI in Dir district in the 2002 polls. Another JUI-F leader said that the Monday meeting between JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and JI chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad was aimed at controlling the situation, which he said “has reached a tipping point”. Qazi belittled MMA: He said the JUI-F accused Qazi of belittling the MMA by joining hands with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz-dominated All Parties Democratic Movement. An NWFP bureaucrat called the alliance “clinically dead”, adding that the leaderships of both parties were keeping the alliance alive under compulsions. He said Qazi and Fazl were aware of the hatred among their parties ranks against each other, but were waiting for the other to announce a separation from the alliance. Separately, a source in the JI said both parties were also debating the distribution of elections seats despite differences between them. “The JI wants to contest on the seats it won in the 2002 polls, but the JUI-F is calling for a new approach to be adopted,” he said. Analysts said the JI joined hands with the PML-N and the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf in the APDM to win maximum seats in Punjab. |
| Posted by:Fred |