ISLAMABAD, Nov 1: Three weeks after its breathtaking gains in Oct 10 polls, cracks have emerged in the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) with the two main components of the alliance bickering over key posts, analysts and party insiders said Friday.
The six-party MMA landed the balance of power in the national assembly, sparking concerns among liberals they would use their new influence to enforce Islamic law and throw US troops and intelligence agents out of the country.
But veteran observers have said the fragility of the alliance, which unites traditional rivals, could see it break up before becoming a powerful political force.
Simmering tensions between the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI) and the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) erupted Wednesday when JI chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed was nominated to lead the MMA in the national assembly.
JUI men, whose leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman was nominated for the post of prime minister, stormed out of the MMA meeting in fury, claiming the JI reneged on an agreement to keep the post free for Fazl should he lose his bid for the premiership.
“This decision makes a mockery of the alliance as the MMA has already named Maulana Fazlur Rehman as candidate for the slot of prime minister,” a JUI leader told AFP, declining to be identified.
The JI agreed it would get the parliamentary leadership only if Fazl secured the post of prime minister.
If Fazl misses out on the prime ministership, he will have no post in the national assembly, as a JI candidate has been named for the speaker slot and a non-JUI candidate has been nominated to chair the Senate.
The “marriage of convenience,” as analysts term the coalition, paid off. Religious parties in the last national polls in 1997 won only four NA seats; on Oct 10, they won 45.
Differences have also surfaced over the chief minister slot in the North West Frontier Province, where MMA swept the polls and secured control of the provincial government.
When the JUI named candidate Akram Durrani as chief minister, the JI lashed out, saying the beardless Durrani did not have a “face...in accordance with Islamic Shariat law.”
MMA insiders said there were further heated exchanges during a meeting Thursday of senior office holders.
“This alliance is like a marriage of convenience between two people who hate each other,” one analyst said.
“It is only a matter of time before it ultimately breaks up.”—AFP