Summit leadership of the religio-political parties of the country is going to meet in Lahore after the Eid-ul-Fitr in what seems to be a last ditch effort to revive the six-party alliance, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), before the next general elections.
Chief Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan Sahibzada Abu Alkhair Muhammad Zubair, who has been assigned the task for convening the meeting of the leadership of the defunct alliance, told Pakistan Today on Saturday that MMA component parties would assemble in Lahore after Eid. Zubair said that he had already held a round of meetings with the alliance leaders besides ISI former chief Lt Gen(r) Hameed Gul before the start of Ramzan.
“I met Hameed Gul, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Allama Sajid Naqvi and Qazi Hussain Ahmad before the start of Ramadan,” he said.
According to Zubair, his party would facilitate and mediate the revival of the alliance before the next general elections. “Former ISI Chief is also on board in this regard,” he added.
When asked about the possibility of the revival of the alliance, Zubair said after Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl pulled out of the ruling coalition at centre, the rest of the component parties of the alliance have shown their consent to move forward in this regard.
However, a source in the religious parties said that Jamaat-i-Islami is still wary of the line of action of the JUI-F and is the main irritant in the revival of the alliance.
“The JI top leadership is of the view that political alliance with JUI-F at this juncture would taint the political image of the former, as the latter during the last three years has developed its identity as an ally of the Pakistan Peoples Party,” the source further said.
It is to mention here that efforts for the revival of MMA during the last three years have met failure because the members are not sure of JUI-F’s political alignment.
