Daily Times, March 11, 2006
New religious alliance in the offing?: JUI-S takes fight to the next level
By Hasan Mansoor
KARACHI: The Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam-Samiul Haq (JUI-S) is planning to create its own version of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), which the leadership says will be the 'real' religious party of the masses.
"We have contacted various parties and individuals and would announce the creation of our MMA this month, or in April," Mufti Usman Yar Khan, JUI-S spokesman, told Daily Times.
The rift between the existing religious alliance dates back to a year when the only MNA-elect of the JUI-S, Qari Gul Rehman of Karachi, left his parent party and joined the MMA's major components, JUI (Fazlur Rehman) and Jamaat-e-Islami.
It is against this backdrop that the JUI-S has been criticizing the JUI-F and JI for dominating the religious alliance and undermining its smaller components. "The MMA is virtually a non-existent entity, as the major parties have expelled us. The JUP (Noorani) has also threatened to take an important decision if the JUI-F and JI continue to dominate the alliance," Khan said.
He said the "real MMA" would include all those parties and groups that had made up the (present) MMA in 2002 but were left out by the major groups. "We want to see those parties in our ranks that were part of the Milli Yakjehti Council (MYC) but have been left out," Khan said. Religious and sectarian parties established the MYC on March 24, 1995. Its first task was to secure the release of its activists who were languishing jails during a crackdown against people who were suspected of involvement in sectarian terrorism.
"We do not consider the Lashkar-e-Taiba (now Jamaat-ud-Dawa) and the banned Jaish-e-Mohammad enemies; we consider them patriotic Pakistanis," Khan said.
Party sources in JUI-S say that their leaders recently discussed the proposal with the Jamaat-ud-Dawa. They also met former chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence, Hameed Gul, ex-COAS Mirza Aslam Beg and Awami Tehrik leader Allama Tahirul Qadri.
Khan confirmed the meetings between his leaders and Hameed Gul, and hinted that they had something to do with the formation of a new alliance. He also hinted at the possibility of the "direct or indirect" presence of General Gul in the future 'set-up.'
"We want to make the alliance more viable and acceptable for more religious groups and Hameed Gul is a patriot who has rendered enormous services for Islam during his life," Khan said.
The present MMA set-up, as the JUI-S leadership believes, has been taken "hostage" by the two major parties, especially after the death of its president, Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani. The JUI-S is also not happy with the lukewarm reaction the MMA gave on the military operation in Wana; this was seen as an act of "betrayal" of the people who had given the MMA a landslide victory.
"Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Qazi Hussain Ahmed are deliberately avoiding launching an effective agitation against the government, because they have acquired a lucrative deal with General (Pervez) Musharraf's regime," Khan alleged.
There are undercurrents in the MMA also. Some leaders want to include the leadership of the banned Millat-e-Islamia Pakistan (Sipah-e-Sahaba) of the late Azam Tariq, but this is apparently not acceptable to the Shia elements in the alliance.
The Tehrik-e-Islami (now banned) of Allama Sajid Naqvi had threatened to quit the MMA when its leadership proposed including Maulana Azam Tariq in 2002.
Many analysts believe that the JUI-S wants to make another Milli Yekjehti Council out of its MMA. However, JUI-F leaders say that no such thing will happen.
"All the major religious groups are represented in the present format, which reflects sectarian harmony," a JUI-F leader says. "Any move to change its present configuration would be disastrous."
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