PESHAWAR, Dec 1: President of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal Qazi Hussain Ahmad said here on Thursday that the six-party alliance had suffered a setback in the local government elections owing to differences between the Jamaat-i-Islami and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl group).

“MMA had suffered in the local government polls,” Qazi Hussain observed, adding that workers might lose patience if leadership failed to mend differences.

Speaking at the annual convocation of Madrassa Hadiqatul Uloom at the Al Markaz-i-Islami, Peshawar, he pledged to make efforts to strengthen the alliance. Opposition leader in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman also spoke on the occasion.

Qazi Hussain said that religious parties could easily win the local government elections in the province had the MMA fielded joint candidates.

“MMA has become a reality and both JI and JUI (F) should realise it,” he remarked, adding that it was in the larger interest of the two main components of the alliance to resolve all disputes.

The MMA president said that Jihad would continue and Islamic parties would prepare the masses for the noble cause. He maintained that Jihad and terrorism were two different things, adding that Jihad should be used as a weapon against social and economic injustices across the world.

Opposition leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that the government and bureaucracy were major hurdles in the registration of madressahs in the country.

He said that management of madressahs and religious parties were ready to solve the registration issue. About the issue of Sanad in the Supreme Court, he said it was purely a political issue.

He said the government was trying to pressurize religious parties on the issue of Sanad.

He criticised the presence of Nato forces in the quake-stricken areas, saying there was no justification to engage the organisation’s forces in relief activities. He added that Nato forces were not acting under the command of the Pakistan Army which might jeopardize national security. Online adds:

Qazi Hussain said conspiracies hatched by invisible forces to weaken the alliance will be foiled.

He noted that MMA had realized that certain elements were plotting to weaken the religious parties’ conglomerate. “The MMA will not become a prey to any such conspiracy. The central leadership will sit together and narrow down all the internal differences,” he said.

He went on to add that all the religious parties, including JI and JUI-F, would wage a joint struggle against anti-Islam forces.

Maulana Fazl said the madressahs would not succumb to any political pressure. The bureaucracy was hampering the process of their registration. “It is making a bid to enforce a new law every now and then and accusing madressahs of shirking from registration.”

He said the Almighty Allah had always annihilated elements who were out to block enforcement of Islamic order. “How ridiculous it is that agencies are describing narration of Hadith related to Jihad in madressahs as attempts to foment extremism and terrorism,” he added.

The rulers are out to appease the US by enacting a variety of laws against madressahs, he said.