LAHORE, Oct 13: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, Pakistan Muslim League-N and Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf will form an electoral alliance for the upcoming general elections, MMA president Qazi Hussain Ahmed said on Saturday.
Talking to Dawn, he said as these parties had identical views on a number of issues, they would contest elections together.
The MMA chief said that the All Parties Democratic Movement had been set up to wage political struggle for the restoration of democracy and it would work for attainment of that goal even if the Supreme Court legitimised Gen Pervez Musharraf’s election as president in uniform.
In reply to a question, Qazi Hussain said the constitutional battle being fought in the apex court was different from the political movement of opposition parties. “We don’t want to overburden the judiciary and will continue our political struggle.”
When asked about a PML-N leader’s demand that the JUI-F should be expelled from the APDM for its pro-Musharraf policies, the MMA president said if that were the yardstick, several other parties would also not qualify to remain in the Movement.
He alleged that some forces were trying to divide the opposition.
He admitted that the Jamaat-i-Islami and the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (F) had different viewpoints on various issues, but this did not mean that the MMA would disintegrate.
He said that JUI (F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had a firm belief that since no political party could think of coming to power without the support of the establishment, “doors of cooperation” with it should always be kept open.
Qazi Hussain said Maulana Fazl did not want the MMA to become an all-out opposition alliance and he shared his ‘pragmatic thinking’ with other leaders in MMA meetings.
The MMA president said the Maulana was right in his thinking to some extent, as the Pakistan People’s Party and the PML (N) also relied on the support of the establishment in the past to enter the power corridors.
However, the JI chief said, hid party did not believe in this logic and wanted to come to power with the support of the people of Pakistan without depending on the establishment or any foreign power.
Answering a question, he said, he believed that the JI and JUI (F) would remain part of the MMA despite their divergent views on different issues.
Answering a question, he said the MMA would take part in general elections even if Gen Musharraf remained in power, although free and fair elections could not be expected under his supervision.
He said if the rulers tried to engineer the election results, opposition parties would convert their political movement into an agitation.
He ruled out the possibility of imposition of martial law and accused Gen Musharraf of using this threat only to perpetuate his power.
When his attention was drawn to the rumours that the JUI-F wanted to remove him as the MMA chief, the Qazi said he himself had offered to quit but other parties did not agree. He claimed a number of MMA party leaders had told him that no other consensus president was possible to head the alliance.