ISLAMABAD  - Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal chief Moulana Fazlur Rehman announced a public rally at Minar-i-Pakistan Lahore on May 13 to formally launch the election campaign of the religious parties’ alliance.

Addressing a press conference along with central leaders of the component parties, the MMA chief, who is also head of his own faction of Jamiat-e-Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, said that a workers’ convention would be held at Convention Centre Islamabad on May 2 where besides filling the key slots of the MMA a decision would also be made about leaving or staying with the government.

Rehman said that without sensitizing the masses, the country could not withstand mounting international pressure on economic, defence and other vital fronts. The JUI-F chief said that a public rally would be organized in Mardan on April 29, followed by a rally in Multan on May 9 and another rally in Mustang, Balochistan on May 12 MMA to get its message across.

Rehman said that MMA provincial parliamentary boards had already been put in place and soon these boards would furnish their recommendations to the central parliamentary board for awarding party tickets from all four provinces for provincial and national assembly seats.

Flanked by Jamaat-i-Islami chief Sirajul Haq, Islami Tehreek chief Allama Sajid Ali Naqvi, Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Pakistan chief Sahibzada Anas Noorani, Jamiat-i-Ahle Hadis Secretary General Hafiz Abdul Karim, JI central leader Liaquat Baloch, JUI-F leader Akram Durrani and others, Rehman said that the aim of the religious parties’ alliance was to unite the nation on one platform to tackle the huge challenges facing the country.

The MMA chief said that unity among Muslim Ummah was the need of the hour and only united Ummah could force the international community to play a proactive role to resolve Palestine issue, help end war in Syria and come to the rescue of Kashmiri Muslims facing worst brutalities at the hands of Indian occupation forces.