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| 18 November 2004 | Thursday | 05 Shawwal 1425 |
JUI-F may attend NSC meeting
PESHAWAR, Nov 17: The JUI (F) has agreed in principle to attend the forthcoming National Security Council meeting, but will try to evolve a consensus on the issue within the religious parties' alliance rather than acting separately, senior party leaders said.
"Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani don't consider the National Security Council an anathema and are inclined to attend its meeting next week. But they would like to evolve a consensus on the matter within the MMA rather than taking a unilateral decision," a senior party leader told Dawn.
The aide, who is considered to be close to both Maulana Fazlur Rehman and the NWFP chief minister, told Dawn on condition of anonymity that the JUI-F as a party saw no problems in sending its representatives to the NSC meeting but wanted to take the six-party alliance along before taking a decision.
The MMA has convened a meeting in Karachi on November 24, one day ahead of the NSC meeting in Islamabad, to debate whether Maulana Fazl, as Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, and Akram Durrani, as NWFP Chief Minister, should attend the meeting to be presided over by President Gen Pervez Musharraf.
The aide said that the two had discussed the matter in detail before the Maulana flew to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah in Ramazan. "There was a general agreement between the two that they should attend the meeting," the aide said.
"But I feel that the Maulana would try and persuade his colleagues within the MMA instead of taking a solo flight and endangering the existence of the MMA," he said.
The aide said that as a quid pro quo the JUI could agree to let Chief Minister Durrani attend the Nov 25 meeting while Maulana Fazlur Rehman could be persuaded to abstain.
"This could dilute the opposition from Jamaat-i-Islami to attending the NSC meeting," the JUI-F source said. So far, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, the JI chief, has taken a more belligerent stand on the issue of President Musharraf's military uniform and has publicly voiced his opposition to attending the meeting.
"We were the ones who helped enact the 17th Amendment that brought the NSC into existence. Now what justification is there for us not to attend the meeting of an institution we helped found," he queried.
He said that even from MMA's standpoint the debate on uniform was premature since any decision by President Musharraf on retaining the office of the chief of army staff had to come by December 31 whereas the NSC meeting was being held a month earlier.
Also, the JUI leaders believed they always reserved the right to disagree with any policy formulation of the government that went against MMA's overall policies on national and international issues.
"It is a forum where there could be discussion on important national and international issues. It is always useful to attend such meetings to put across one's views," the JUI-F insider said.
He said other MMA components including Maulana Samiul Haq of JUI-S and Allama Sajid Naqvi of Millat Islamia Pakistan could endorse JUI-F's position on the NSC, making it difficult for Qazi Hussain Ahmad to put up any serious resistance.
"In any case, we don't want to take any decision that could undermine the MMA. But we feel confident that we would get a decision representing a win-win situation for both the JUI-F and the JI," he said.
"If Maulana Fazl does not attend the meeting, he could wait to attend the next one but we would like Chief Minister Durrani to attend the Nov 25 meeting," he said. The JUI-F's executive committee in the NWFP has already asked its party leadership to let Chief Minister Durrani attend the meeting in his capacity as the chief executive of the province, and not as a party nominee.
Political analysts saw this as a clever move on the part of the JUI-F on an issue that had strained relations between the MMA-run NWFP government and the PML-led federal government.
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