Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal Leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman appears to be in a catch-22 situation after the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) ultimatum to the government. He has to take a decision within days about his course of action, which will have deep impact on the opposition's future strategy.
His distancing from Qazi Hussain Ahmad's unequivocal support to Alliance for Restoration of Democracy is understandable in view of his stakes in the system. But how long this will persist may be billed as vague.
Surely, time for him to decide on whether or not to support the status quo is fast running out. Of course, he will be the last person to join any movement against the present system. Needless to say, Maulana Fazlur Rehman has to make up his mind before the ARD, ably supported by Qazi and other opposition groups in the National Assembly, moving a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
The President's impeachment is not on the cards for the opposition, which does not a required two-thirds majority in either houses of the Parliament.
It may be debatable that why was he as a leader of the opposition left out while ARD gave a deadline to President General Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to step down by July 31. And, more importantly, Qazi, who heads Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, took no time in voicing his support for ARD's initiative.
HERE A QUESTION ARISES: are ARD and Qazi unsure about Maulana Fazl's opposition to the present system? Anyway, there is a growing perception that it is not ARD or Qazi, who have to prove their credentials, but the opposition leader.
However, for him, it is a time to categorically shrug off the image of a friendly opposition leader. Though, he enjoys full backing of as many as 32 MNAs of his Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam. Whereas, Qazi has in his pocket resignations of 29 lawmakers of the National Assembly. MMA president out of the blue has displeased him, if not rattled.
Some political analysts believe that Maulana Fazl's statements may be harsher than those of Qazi, but his actions don't ostensibly tally them. For instance, they argue that the decision to allow NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani to attend the National Security Council meetings, while not acknowledging the council as constitutional, reflects Maulana's 'divided approach'.
His statement that the decision of moving a no-confidence motion was bound to fail and that he would not support it, unquestionably has gone in the government's favour.
The powers are expected to work on his stance and weigh the options of further roping in the Maulana.
MMA's deputy secretary general, who is also JUI's Secretary General, Hafiz Hussain Ahmad, parried a question about why Maulana did not support the ARD's deadline. He told Business Recorder that the religious grouping (MMA) was bound to take collective decisions as it did in the past. However, he had no answer to JI lawmakers' resignations.
When asked about Qazi's meetings with Benazir Bhutto, and possibly Nawaz Sharif in London next week, he said that hopefully, the alliance president would take the top leadership into confidence.
Needless to say, as the situation stands now, it appears, the time of Qazi and Maulana Fazl parting ways was nearing fast and the only possibility of averting it could be the MMA secretary general showing some flexibility in his stance. Is he prepared for that?
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