As the battle-lines are being drawn, efforts have accelerated to forge a abroad-based alliance of major religious parties, with an objective to galvanise their vote-bank and form a formidable political force involving the component parties of the now defunct Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA).
Background interactions with the leaders of major politico-religious parties have revealed that the charged political scenario has rekindled new hopes for the religious parties to once again get a major share in national politics.
Earlier, President Asif Ali Zardari had been pushing JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman to get the MMA revived to cause a major dent to the PML-N’s vote-bank. However, the recent political developments have changed the entire scenario, making a broader religious alliance relevant to the situation. “Punjab has been the focus for all political parties as it, being the largest province, is the deciding factor in terms of electoral politics. Religious parties are thrilled by the recent happenings on the national political scene and efforts are on to either revive the MMA or form a bigger alliance of religious parties,” a source in the JUI-F told Pakistan Today.
Though Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Syed Munawwar Hassan has been a major hurdle in the MMA’s revival, he is now facing in-house pressure for MMA’s revival. “Since Maulana Fazlur Rehman has left for Saudi Arabia to perform Haj, it is expected that issues would be ironed out upon his return,” the source said.
It has been learnt that the former JI former chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed, who was the head of the MMA, and some senior leaders of the JI are in favour of reviving the MMA, but Hasan is opposed to the idea.
“Probably, Munawwar Hassan has fears that the MMA’s revival would help Qazi Hussain Ahmed overshadow him in politics,” the JUI-F source said. The source said Maulana Fazl believed that the vote-bank of religious parties was a source of strength for the PML-N in Punjab and if this vote-bank was brought under one umbrella, it would not only help the MMA’s cause but would also decrease around 10,000 to 15,000 votes of the PML-N in each constituency of the country. “This would be a double-edged weapon as the formation of religious alliance would make it a major political force in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan, as the Awami National Party (ANP) in KP and the PPP in Balochistan are faced with all-time low popularity.”
Islami Tehreek Pakistan Secretary Information Sikander Gilani said his party chief Allama Sajid Naqvi was confident that the MMA would be revived soon.