5, April 2005	Tuesday	25 Safar 1426

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ISLAMABAD, April 4: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) will be faced with the biggest challenge to its fragile unity on April 6 when its supreme council will debate afresh from its largest component, the JUI-F, NWFP chapter, to allow opposition leader Maulana Fazlur Rahman and NWFP Chief Minister Akram Durrani to attend the next meetings of the National Security Council (NSC), alliance sources told Dawn on Monday.

On being asked about the agenda of Wednesday’s meeting of the MMA supreme council, the deputy parliamentary leader of the alliance, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, confirmed to Dawn that all issues, including the NWFP party’s demand, would come up for discussion.

He said the alliance will take stock of the political situation that had emerged after the alliance’s April 2 strike and chalk out its strategy for the next round of movement.

It was the third time that JUI-F’s NWFP chapter had openly urged the MMA to allow the two leaders to attend the NSC. However, difference this time was that the party has asked the alliance leadership to decide on quitting the provincial government in case it decides to continue boycotting the council meeting.

The alliance sources however rejected the idea of discussing the second option of quitting the NWFP government at this juncture.

Informed sources in the alliance have told Dawn that the party had acted on the advice of NWFP Chief Minister Durrani who felt the heat after failing to get essential funds from the federal government to meet the financial needs of the province.

Sources said that the NWFP government had faced dire difficulties in coping with the high demand of resources to meet the needs of people affected by the latest torrential rains and flash floods as in its opinion the federal government did not attend to its needs as was required.

However, on being contacted for his comments, the senior minister in the NWFP government and provincial chief of the second largest component of MMA Jamaat-i-Islami, Sirajul Haq, said that the demand was made by one component and was yet to be discussed and approved by the provincial chapter of the alliance.

Talking to Dawn over the telephone, he regretted making the demand by the fellow party public without getting it discussed within the alliance. He proposed that every individual stand that any party takes on policy matters must be discussed to try to reach a consensus before going public about it.

Mr Siraj believed that the federal government had been shaken by the April 2 “successful” strike call of the MMA and hence dissenting voices were surfacing to damage the unity of the alliance.

He cited the instance of his party’s withdrawal of the name of Merajuddin from the contest for the senate seat fallen vacant by resignation of the governor, NWFP, Khalilur Rahman, in favour of a JUI-F candidate so that unity of the alliance was not harmed.

The MMA supreme council which had on two occasions decided against the demand by the NWFP chapter of JUI-F will be facing great difficulty in sticking to its decision as its secretary general, Maulana Fazlur Rahman, also appears to have been convinced by the NWFP chief minister in favour of the demand.

Replying to a question, Maulana Fazlur Rahman said, “The leadership can discuss other options in the matter too.”

The alliance will be faced with another dilemma for if it decides on ending its boycott of NSC meetings, it will further widen the gulf between the MMA and the ARD.

Both the alliances’ leadership is scheduled to hold another meeting during the second week of the current month to hammer out their differences and to chalk out a joint strategy against the government.