MMA revival efforts seem fruitless

Efforts to revive the alliance of six religious political parties--Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA)--appears fruitless as the main stakeholder, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), is not willing to become a part of any alliance unless Fazal-ur-Rehman's Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) resigns from Parliament.
However, sources in the two parties confirmed to Business Recorder that efforts "are underway" to reunite the six religious parties under the umbrella of MMA. The alliance broke up when one of its main allies--JUI-F--decided to contest the 2008 general polls despite the decision of the other five parties to boycott the elections to be held under the set-up led by Musharraf as president.
The JUI-F decision to contest the 2008 polls and join the ruling alliance led by Pakistan People's Party (PPP) sounded the death knell of the right wing religious-cum-political alliance. However, efforts to reunite the religious right were again launched following the decision of JUI-F to quit the ruling alliance on December 14, 2010. "We reached a decision to overlook our differences that were hindering in revival of the alliance, but all efforts in this regard have not borne fruit", , JUI-F spokesman Amjad Khan told Business Recorder.
He said that JI's attitude was a major obstacle in the revival of the MMA, adding that the Munawar Hassan-led JI was not serious in reuniting the religio-political forces under the umbrella of MMA. "We had in principle, decided to reunite all former allies on a single platform, but I am going to share the latest position with you that JI is not serious. Therefore, the effort seems to be fruitless", he said.
The JUI-F spokesman said that the JUI-F chief had launched an effort to reunite all the religious parties and jointly contest the next general elections from a single platform. Sources in the two parties, however, said that a meeting between JUI-F chief Fazal-ur-Rehman and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) former chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed, held last week, was very productive. They said that the two leaders had reached the understanding, in principle, to revive the MMA, and the final decision was to be taken subsequent to taking JI chief Munawar Hassan into confidence. An announcement in this regard was expected to be made "before the end of December, 2011", a source added.
However, JI secretary-general Liaqat Baloch said that it was necessary to deal with the factors that had caused the break-up of MMA. "I think it is useless unless the JUI-F disassociates itself from the government", he said, adding that to remain in the Parliament was to support the anti-people policies of the government.
He accused JUI-F of violating the unanimous decision of the MMA to boycott the 2008 general elections, "which is why JI along with other former allied parties want some damage control". The MMA came into existence in 2000 when religious political parties formed an electoral alliance to contest the general polls. The alliance won 65 seats in National Assembly and also formed a government in NWFP (now KP) and entered into coalition with PML-Q in Balochistan government in 2002.
According to political analysts, the religious alliance greatly exploited its election symbol "book" in 2002 general polls by referring to the Holy Quran during its electioneering but failed to deliver on its promise: to implement Shariah laws.
However, following the rising unpopularity of the current ruling nationalist Awami National Party (ANP) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Imran's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is likely to emerge as the biggest winner in the next general elections, largely because of the anti-drone stroke policy and focus on eliminating militancy through dialogue.