ISLAMABAD - Following a broader agreement on the revival of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), a six-member coordination committee has instantly started work to finalise modalities to revive the religious parties’ alliance.
Sources aware of the details of the decision taken at the religious parties leadership meeting held at the residence of JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman last Thursday told The Nation that the six-member coordination committee was given vast powers to work out the blueprint which would govern the functioning of the alliance.
The sources said that tentatively the committee would accomplish the task assigned to it by the end of this month and the final announcement of the alliance and its modalities would be made after the November 9 meeting at the Jamaat-i-Islami’s main office in Mansoora, Lahore.
The committee comprising Liaqat Baloch, Ramzan Tauqeer, Shafiq Kasuri, Akram Durrani and Anas Noorani would mainly discuss and work out the parties share in next general election and the ticket-awarding mechanism as well as the code of conduct of the alliance.
When asked whether the parties, part of governments in centre and provinces, would quit their respective governments before joining the alliance, a source in the JUI-F said that it would be a trivial issue before the greater cause of uniting religious forces on one platform.
To another question, the source said that it was also not decided yet whether the future alliance would work with the same name of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal or it would function under a new nomenclature.
Previously, talks on the revival of the religious parties’ alliance did not take off as JUI-F was not willing to leave the federal government while it was the demand of the Jamaat-i-Islami and some other political parties that before formation of any such alliance the religious parties which were part of any government must walk out of it.
The religious parties’ huddle, which was held at the residence of Fazlur Rehman, was attended by Jamaat-e-Islami chief Sirajul Haq, Markazi Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith head Prof Sajid Mir, JUI-Sami chief Maulana Samiul Haq and Islami Tehrik leader Allama Sajid Naqvi and leaders of some other religious parties.
The sources said that there was a greater realization among the leaders that bringing religious forces at one platform was the need of the hour as united they could turn into a formidable force to serve the cause of Islam and ideology of the country in a real sense.
To a question, a source in the Jamaat-i-Islami said that the six-member coordination committee was empowered to decide on taking more religious parties and groups into its fold.
The MMA, which was formed ahead of the 2002 general election, had exhibited remarkable results in the polls. The alliance formed the government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the then NWFP, single-handedly and a government in Balochistan in alliance with PML-Q besides securing the position of the leader of opposition in the National Assembly.
The MMA comprised of six religious parties — the Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan, the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam- Fazl, the Jamaat-i-Islami, the Tehreek-i-Jafaria Pakistan, the Jamaat-i-Ahle Hadith and the Muttahida Deeni Mahaz.
After the meeting at his residence, the JUI-F chief said that all the parties had agreed to cooperate with each other and form an alliance for the next general election.
It was further agreed at the meeting that the parties would also engage other groups and religious parties to broaden the base of the alliance to return with maximum seats to form governments at centre and provinces as it was the only way to implement the agenda of transforming Pakistan into a true “Islamic and a progressive state”.