LAHORE, Nov 6: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) is in a dilemma with regard to the election of chiefs of some of its six component parties to the parliament.

Two of them, Qazi Husain Ahmad of the Jamaat-i-Islami and Maulana Fazlur Rahman of the JUI(F), were elected to the National Assembly in the Oct 10 polls while Maulana Shah Ahmad Noorani of the JUP, Prof Sajid Mir of Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith, Maulana Samiul Haq of the JUI(S) and Allama Sajid Naqvi of Islami Tehrik did not contest the polls as they had been promised membership of the Senate under a pre-election strategy.

Of them Maulana Samiul Haq will easily sail through the Senate polls as the MMA’s NWFP chapter meets on Thursday to finalize its recommendations to the central body in this regard. Prof Khurshid Ahmad, Prof Mohammad Ibrahim, Dr Mohammad Saaeb and Dr Murad Ali Shah of the JI will be the other beneficiaries in this province where the alliance enjoys a sizable strength of MPs. The JUI-F, however, had not finalized its nominees till the filing of this report.

But what to do for Maulana Noorani, Prof Mir and Allama Naqvi, as the MMA does not have the required number of MPAs in the Punjab and Sindh to get them elected!

The MMA leadership heaved a sigh of relief when the PML-N announced that it was awarding a ticket to the Senate to Prof Sajid Mir from its quota in the Punjab where the religious alliance had only 10 MPAs as against the 23 required for election of a senator.

They are exploring different avenues for the election of Maulana Noorani and Mr Naqvi. The PML-N is being approached through Prof Mir, who enjoys exemplary relations with the exiled Sharifs, for making Naqvi’s name appear as its third priority after Prof Mir and Ishaq Dar when its MPAs cast their votes in the Senate polls. In return, the League will be offered 10 votes for the reserved seats of technocrats and women in the Senate.

The same strategy is being adopted to get Maulana Noorani elected from Sindh where the MMA has 12 MPAs.

Meanwhile, smaller parties in the MMA complain that they have been ignored in the elections on seats reserved for women and minorities in the national and provincial assemblies.

A central MMA leader, who requested not to be named, said that the JI and the JUI-F should take their smaller partners along so that the alliance might last longer. Usurpation of their due share of the reserved seats for women and minorities had created unrest among them, which was likely to increase if the major partners did not compensate them in the Senate polls, he added.