IMPORTANT people have been lining up outside the maulana’s residence, seemingly hoping to win his favour. What gives? Pictures of the beaming JUI-F chief, arm in arm with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, were splashed across the newspapers on Saturday.

About a week earlier, President Asif Ali Zardari and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi had paid Maulana Fazlur Rehman a similar visit. In between, a delegation of senior PTI leaders, including party chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Asad Qaiser, Shibli Faraz and Raoof Hasan, knocked on the maulana’s doors. A PTI leader said the maulana wanted two seats in the Senate; the prime minister promised him that all his grievances would be resolved by the government if he parted ways with the PTI. After months in the political wilderness, the maulana must be feeling good about being back in demand. After all, he was the only one left high and dry when the last election results were announced.

It seems important to outline the context. It may be recalled that these meetings started a day after the JUI-F and PTI reached an agreement on challenging the government. The PTI will be staging its first ‘power show’ in the federal capital next Sunday, for which it has vowed to push ahead with or without the state’s permission. If the JUI-F decides to join its troops, it could become a more complex challenge to handle.

Separately, the JUI-F has a significant presence in Balochistan, which was recently rocked by a series of coordinated terror attacks. The state could be planning a major counterterrorism effort there and may consider it important for the maulana to extend his backing to the state’s plans. Then there are rumours that the coalition government is planning to move important legislation through parliament, in which Maulana Fazl’s buy-in may make the difference between a constitutional amendment being passed or not.

This is, after all, what politics is about, and the maulana is one of the most seasoned wranglers on the national stage. His party can exert considerable street power, and he can be quite direct when criticising the state. For this reason, both factions would want him to be on their side. As long as the tug-of-war over his loyalties is confined to whether he wants to sit on the treasury benches or the opposition, the PTI and the coalition government can continue slugging it out.

However, it is hoped that the JUI-F will not become part of any scheme to amend the Constitution till the question of reserved seats is resolved by the Supreme Court. Last Tuesday, bills to amend the Constitution were sought to be tabled by a lawmaker elected on a JUI-F ticket. It is hoped that they will only be considered once parliament is fully constituted.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2024