Won’t take dictation from PML-N, PPP: Siraj

The first signs of weakness in the joint opposition alliance appeared on Monday when Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) emir Sirajul Haq made it clear that Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal’s (MMA) JI-aligned voters will not “take dictation” from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

The statement came soon after 328 MNAs took oath in the lower house of parliament when the JI chief held a press conference to explain his party’s role in the MMA and as an opposition party.

“We may be with the opposition but we will not become a part of any dictation from the PML-N, PPP,” Haq said.

His party was once a coalition partner of the last Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), but it had later joined forces with like-minded religio-political parties to revive the MMA.

“We will follow our own policies,” added Haq, who was among the first opposition leaders to say after the July 25 elections that the new government should be given a chance.

Haq’s fellow MMA leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman had recently reportedly said that he would not be celebrating Independence Day due to the alleged rigging of the July 25 polls that handed him a humiliating defeat.

The JI chief today distanced himself from those remarks, saying, “We will celebrate 14 August. If Maulana Fazlur Rehman does not want to then that is his own choice.”

Haq also blamed the two main opposition parties for their plight. “Had the PML-N and PPP improved the [electoral] system, the opposition would never have seen this day,” he said.

However, he also criticised state institutions, saying, “The good name that the state institutions had made for themselves by maintaining peace has been lessened. They exposed themselves during elections.”

Haq then reminded Imran Khan, the prime minister-in-waiting, that his “test” has now begun.

“We want him to fulfill all the promises he has made to the nation,” he said.