LAHORE: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) on Thursday suffered another jolt when the Jamaat-i-Islami, one of its major components, said its lone member in the National Assembly, Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali, would not vote for Shahbaz Sharif, joint opposition’s candidate for the prime ministership.

Explaining the decision, JI chief Sirajul Haq told Dawn that since he (Shahbaz Sharif) was not the MMA candidate, the JI was not bound to vote for him.

“Since the PPP and the PML-N have gone back on their words as far as decisions of the MPC were concerned, the JI is not bound by them either.”

Insisting the MMA is still intact, he said, the opposition should take a clear stance on different issues.

“Confusion on its part on different issues is creating problems for the components. The JI has decided that it will only follow the decisions taken at the MMA platform after building a consensus within the alliance. The JI cannot be pushed around for personal commitments of any other leader,” Siraj said.

This is third occasion in the last few weeks when the JI has refused to follow MMA chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman. The JI did not go along with the MMA chief’s demand for delaying oath taking immediately after the elections. Instead, it took the matter back to the MMA and convinced the Maulana to attend the National Assembly session.

Later, when the MMA chief announced on Aug 8 that the MMA would observe the Independence Day as a day of “struggle for independence”, the JI publicly snubbed its alliance chief and announced celebrating it as Independence Day, saying the day did not belong to one party or a person but was a national day and would be celebrated as such. It made elaborate arrangements for the celebrations as well.

“It is not only a refusal, it makes the MMA look like a dead alliance for all practical purposes,” says a leader of the alliance. “All candidates had fought election from the MMA platform and not the JI. By asking its own member not to go along with the alliance decision means that JI has virtually pulled out of the alliance. The alliance may be theoretically alive, but it has lost practical utility,” he said.

MMA General Secretary Liaqat Baloch, however, does not agree.

“The alliance is very much alive. Its components may have their own opinion on issues of national importance. We have consensus that elections were rigged and all possible legal measures would be adopted for redressal of this common grievance. However, the JI would maintain its individual identity as well,” he insisted.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2018