LAHORE, Feb 6: Polarisation within the six-party religious alliance, Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), has grown so deep that pinning any hope for a ‘positive oucome’ on today’s meeting is a distant possibility, say sources.
The heads of the MMA components parties are meeting here “in a bid to decide some important issues”, including resignations from assemblies or the boycott of NA.
Sources say the division in the MMA ranks has grown since the alliance’s supreme council meeting in November last took a stance against the Women’s Protection Bill.
That meeting witnessed a clear polarisation of four parties on one side and two on the other. The Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, the JUI (seniors) of Maulana Abdur Rahim Naqshbandi, the Pakistan Islami Tehrik of Allama Sajid Naqvi and the Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith of Senator Sajid Mir emerged as one group, while the Jamaat-i-Islami and the Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan stood on the other side. This position has not changed so far.
The number of MMA MNAs in the National Assembly is 65. Of them, more than 50 per cent belong to the JUI and around 20 to the Jamaat. The JUP has the lone MNA from Hyderabad — Dr Sahibzada Abul Khair Mohammad Zubair.
The MMA’s executive committee is scheduled to meet every month to work out an agenda for the consideration of its supreme council. But it has held no session for several months, and a meeting of the supreme council has also been delayed accordingly. During the period, the leaders have been accusing others of delaying discussions on important political and organisational issues.
The delay has not only resulted in leaving the issues unresolved, but also aggravated the situation because the question like en bloc resignations by MMA legislators from the assemblies and the Senate in protest against President “Musharraf’s intention of seeking another vote from the present assemblies to remain in the presidency while in uniform, is both important and sensitive and should have been deliberated much earlier,” sources said.
JAMAAT DECISION: In the absence of an MMA meeting, the JI decided at a session of its Majlis-i-Shoora that the party stuck to its stance on quitting assemblies.
However, the Jamaat made the condition milder by deciding to boycott the NA session.
JUI REACTION: The JUI, which had earlier been saying that it would consider the option of quitting assemblies if Gen Musharraf sought the second vote from the same assemblies, toughened its stance at a meeting of its central executive committee in Lahore the other day, declaring that the question of resignations had already been resolved.