GUJRAT/LAHORE: Formal talks for forging an electoral alliance between two mainstream religio-political parties -- the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazalur Rehman group (JUI-F) -- will start from Monday (today).

A JUI-F team led by party’s secretary general Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, who is also the deputy chairman of Senate, will visit Mansoora, the JI headquarter, in Lahore on Monday where a JI team headed by party secretary general Liaqat Baloch will hold a bilateral meeting.

Liaqat Baloch who was in Gujrat on Sunday told Dawn that he had already visited heads of some other component parties of the now dysfunctional Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) for seeking their consent for the revival of an MMA-like electoral alliance.

He said a recent meeting between JI chief Senator Sirajul Haq and JUI chief Maulana Fazalur Rehman had agreed upon forming committees of their respective parties for initial talks and the Monday’s visit by the JUI-F delegation would be the first step towards forging an alliance.

He said both the parties had their major support base in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa where, in case of an alliance, they could achieve better results like the 2002 vote.Responding to a question, the JI leader said the conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran had harmed the interests of Muslims across the globe and caused a major division among the Muslim countries. He said Pakistan, Turkey, Malaysia and Indonesia were the countries that could play a vital role in resolving the conflict.

JI local emir Dr Tariq Saleem and Ansar Dhool advocate were also present.Our Staff Meanwhile, a JUI-F delegation led by Senate Deputy Chairman Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidri met Jamiat Ulema Pakistan president Ijaz Ahmad Hashmi on Sunday and discussed the possibility of uniting religio-political parties.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2017