23 February 2005	Wednesday	13 Muharram 1426

LAHORE, Feb 22: The Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal will not be able to mount much pressure on the government even if they join hands for a movement.

The government plan to hold local elections during the current year plus the deep-rooted mistrust between the two alliances will make it difficult for the proposed movement to take off during the coming months.

Political leaders agree that once the schedule for local elections is announced, supporters of various parties will prefer to take part in them rather than an anti-government campaign.

The local polls will be held in phases, and all parties have already declared that they would take an active part to win maximum seats. The anti-government campaign is also unlikely to pick up momentum due to differences between the ARD and the MMA.

The PPP, not withstanding its press statements to the contrary, is not willing to sit with the MMA. It thinks that religious parties are reviled all over the world, and once it bracketed itself with the MMA it would tarnish its image of a secular party.

The PPP, and some other parties in the ARD, are also not willing to ignore MMA's support to the ruling party in the adoption of 17th Amendment. They think that after taking part in an anti-government movement for some time, the religious alliance may once again strike some deal with the rulers, backstabbing the ARD.

Within the ARD, the PPP and the PML-N have different views on cooperation with the MMA. The PML-N thinks that religious parties are its natural allies. However, the PPP wants to keep itself at a distance. And within the MMA, the Jamaat-i-Islami and the JUI-F don't have harmony of thought on all issues. They don't have identical views even on the status of President Musharraf.

While the Jamaat wants to go the whole hog to oust Musharraf both as president and the army chief, a JUI-F's Balochistan delegation recently met President Musharraf under the leadership of Maulana Mohammad Khan Sherani.

The clarification that the JUI-F delegation had met the president to discuss the situation in Balochistan, caused by the recent rains, has not been able to satisfy all components of the religious alliance.

The ARD and the MMA also have varying points of view on the need for fresh elections. While the ARD calls for immediate elections under the supervision of an independent election commission, the MMA thinks that the assemblies should be allowed to complete their tenure.