LAHORE - Former president Pervez Musharraf had to face a serious embarrassment on Saturday when three of the 23 political parties which he gathered under a ‘grand alliance’ only a day before denied they had joined the coalition.
The parties that distanced themselves from the so-called conglomerate are Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) and Majlis-e-Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM).
They issued separate statements asserting they had nothing to do with Pakistan Awami Ittehad (PAI), the alliance former president claimed credit for cobbling together.
It was declared the grand alliance announced on Friday would operate under the leadership of Parvez Musharraf and its central office would be in Islamabad.
Besides Musharraf-led All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), Pakistan Awami Tehreek, Sunni Itehad Council, Majlis-i-Wahdatul Muslimeen, Pakistan Sunni Tehreek, Muslim Conference (Kashmir), PML-Junejo, PML Council, PML-National, Awami League, Pak Muslim Alliance, Pakistan Mazdoor Ittehad, Conservative Party, Muhajir Ittehad Tehreek, Pakistan Insani Huqooq Party, Millat Party, Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (Niazi Group), Aam Loag Party, Aam Admi Party, Pakistan Masawat Party, Pakistan Minority Party, Jamiat Mushaikh Pakistan and Social Justice Democratic Party were said to be the part of the alliance. It was also declared that a convention in Aiwan-e-Iqbal, Lahore, and a ‘huge’ rally in Karachi would be organised under the banner of Pakistan Awami Ittehad in December. Currently in UAE, General (r) Parvez Musharraf ruled the country from 1999 to 2008. Many high-profile cases in the country’s courts are lying pending against him due to his absence from Pakistan.
Most of the political parties forming part of the PAI are little known to the public. PAT, SIC and MWM which have some roots in the people and are comparatively more active in the country’s politics have denied any affiliation with the alliance.
The MWM has popular representation in Shia community while SIC, a conglomerate of a dozen small organisations of Brelvi school of thought, has following in Faisalabad division. Dr Tahirul Qadri-led PAT has a good number of supporters and voters in every province. The PAT emerged as a major pressure group after 2014’s famous Islamabad sit-in, following killing of its 14 workers in a clash with police in Model Town, Lahore.
“Pakistan Awami Tehreek participated as an observer in APML’s session on Friday. We have not decided to be the part of Parvez Musharraf-led alliance,” said Noorullah Siddiqui, the spokesperson for PAT in a statement yesterday. He added the PAT top leadership had yet to decide to be part of any political alliance.
Suuni Ittehad Council head Sahibzada Hamid Raza said his party would not participate in elections under the umbrella of Pakistan Awami Ittehad. “The SIC will participate in elections under the banner of Nizam-e-Mustafa Muttahida Mahaz,” Sahibzada Hamid clarified in a statement.
Around a half dozen Brelvi/Sunni parties, including Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan-Noorani and JUP-Imam Noorani, Pakistan Sunni Tehreek and others, had announced Nizam-e-Mustafa Muttahida Mahaz in a meeting held at Aiwan-e-Iqbal, Lahore, a week earlier.
Faisalabad-based outspoken religious cleric Sahibzada Hamid Raza who is the son of late Sahibzada Fazl Karim also invited the other religious organisations of Brelvi school of thought into the fold of Nizam-e-Mustafa Alliance. He underlined the need for a greater alliance of opposition parties before the next general elections.
“Formation of a larger alliance of anti-PML-N parties is the need of the hour,” said the SIC chairman.
MWM spokesperson Mazahir Ali Shigri even declined any participation in Friday’s APML-led meeting. “No member of our party even participated in the APML meeting. We wonder how we are included in the alliance,” Shigri told The Nation.
He further clarified the party leaders and workers were busy in the chehlum of Hazrat Imam Hussain on Friday and avoided attending any other event on this occasion.
The MWM, SIC and PAT are already part of PML-Q-led four-party political alliance.
Speaking at the teleconference from Dubai with the leaders of Pakistan Awami Ittehad on Friday, former president Musharraf had thanked allies for electing him as their leader and announced all the member-parties would contest the coming elections together with one name.
Interestingly, the former military ruler had invited MQM-P and Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) to join the PAI. He had also invited Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan to join hands with a group that would take Pakistan forward while accusing Khan of only thinking about his own party (PTI).
A leader of APML, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the alliance would remain intact and more parties would join it in the coming days. When asked about the denial of the three parties, he said they would soon announce their inclusion in Pakistan Awami Ittehad.