LAHORE, July 27: MMA secretary-general Maulana Fazlur Rahman’s visit to India has generated a ‘huge’ stir within the six-party alliance.

Maulana Fazl’s meetings with the Indian leadership and statements on Kashmir issue have also angered members of Kashmiri groups fighting for independence from the Delhi rule, who expressed their annoyance by making phone calls to their ‘sympathizers’ in Pakistan.

Of MMA’s six constituents, Fazlur Rehman’s JUI-F, the JUP (of Shah Ahmad Noorani), the JUI-S (of Samiul Haq) and the Islami Tehrik (of Allama Sajid Naqvi) do not have any stakes in the Kashmir Jihad. While the other two parties —- the Jamaat-i-Islami led by Qazi Husain Ahmad and Prof Sajid Mir’s Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith —- have ‘links’ with two major Kashmiri groups —- the Hizbul Mujahideen and the Tehrikul Mujahideen.

Sources in the MMA said that before leaving Pakistan, the JUI-F chief had assured the other MMA leaders that he would not speak against alliance’s policy towards Kashmir. But his controversial statements on the Line of Control and his “close-to-opposition” attitude towards freedom struggle in Kashmir had created a stir in all circles in Pakistan.

Maulana Fazl had also phoned Qazi Husain and Prof Mir from India to clarify his position by saying that all his engagements in India were being covered by the official news agency of Pakistan. But the two MMA leaders reportedly did not buy his arguments.

The sources said the JUI-F had decided to send its delegation to India when Qazi Husain Ahmad and others in the MMA refused to welcome a Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind delegation led by Asad Madni that wanted to visit Pakistan as part of an “Ulema diplomacy” to initiate dialogue between the two countries on the Kashmir issue.

The Qazi and company had asked Maulana Fazl that they could not welcome Mr Madni because he was towing an Indian government’s line by not accepting the freedom struggle in Kashmir as Jihad.

The visit to India by Maulana Fazlur Rehman was atop the agenda of MMA’s summit meeting held in Islamabad on Saturday (July 26).