LAHORE, May 15: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) intends to take full part in the upcoming elections and will soon mobilise all its workforce for the purpose, a top leader of the alliance said on Monday. Speaking at a press conference, MMA secretary general Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that although the alliance did not rule out an election boycott, as proposed by MMA chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed, it considered the move a remote possibility.

“The alliance plans to mobilise all its workers in the run-up to the elections. It has already given them instructions to prepare for the elections,” Maulana Fazl said.

Mr Rehman maintained that the alliance did not want to boycott elections and “let sycophants rule the nation for the next five years”, because they would do little else but to strengthen the army. “Such a mistake was made in 1985 and the mainstream parties suffered subsequently. The alliance does not want to repeat the mistake,” he said.

Asked to comment to Mr Ahmed’s statements, he said that Qazi Sahib was a senior leader and he could not contradict him.

Responding to another assertion by Qazi Hussain Ahmed that the alliance would bring 100,000 people to Islamabad in September and force the military rulers out, Maulana Fazl again said that the alliance had not taken any final decision on it. The alliance leadership would decide in September whether it wanted to take part in elections, which would be so near by then, or opt for confrontational politics and agitation.

“Before opting for any kind of mass movement, the alliance would have to mobilise its workers and see how its mobilisation plan works. But there is certainly no final decision either on picketing of Islamabad or boycotting the forthcoming polls,” he said.

Commenting on the Charter of Democracy, signed by Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif in London, he said that “politicians joining hands for democracy, rule of law and keeping army out of politics” would be good for the country. “The meeting between Ms Bhutto and Mr Sharif is not an exception to this rule,” he said.

While rejecting the assessment of US-based magazine Foreign Policy that had rated Pakistan as a failed state, Maulana Fazl said that the magazine had its own criteria of a failed state and one could not subscribe to its views.

“But, at the same time, we, as a nation, must do some soul-searching if the objectives of Pakistan have been achieved or not. If that is the criteria, one must admit failure,” he said.