After deliberating the question for two days on whether or not to resign from the assemblies as per the MMA's earlier announcement to do so in the event the government went ahead to pass the Women's Protection Bill, the alliance's parliamentary party leadership decided on Thursday not to resign for now.
The issue has been referred to the MMA Supreme Council, which is to meet after Eid for further discussion. It has been known for a while that the Jamaat-e-Islami chief, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, was more inclined than JUI-F leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman, whose party has a much higher stake in the present set-up, to use resignations for the furtherance of political objectives even before the women's bill came to the fore. Accordingly, at the parliamentary party members' meeting the Qazi insisted on quitting the assemblies while the JUI adopted a cooler and pragmatic approach.
The JI leader's request to allow his party legislators to resign unilaterally too was rejected. It is a democratic decision based on majority opinion, and hence needs to be respected as such. It is also politically wise, though rather difficult to defend by the MMA leadership in view of the firmness with which it had vowed to resign in case the women's bill was passed. Apparently, the alliance had allowed itself to be misled by the government assurances to make changes in the bill according to its liking, and hence did not expect to face the embarrassing situation it has.
From a general perspective, the decision is reflective of political maturity, even if forced by circumstances, in terms of acceptance of the alternative viewpoint. It is worth noting in this context that while talking to journalists Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that General Musharraf wanted to divide the nation on the basis of faith, and that would not be tolerated. In other words, even though the MMA has been opposed to the bill, it is willing to do business with its supporters such as the PPP-P, a key component of the Opposition alliance, the ARD.
Notably, the PPP-P and the PML-N, the other major party within the ARD, have also been talking of resigning from the assemblies but at an opportune time, which could be if and when General Pervez Musharraf decides to get himself reelected for another presidential term from the present assemblies. The MMA leaders now say they would co-ordinate resignations move with the ARD. Maulana Fazlur Rehman averred that the alliance would "dedicate more time to our ongoing negotiations with the other Opposition parties, including the PPP-P and the PML-N, which are pressing us not to take a unilateral decision to resign." That makes sense.
As he pointed out, if they resign now, the government would call bye-elections, and make gains at the expense of the MMA. Instead of the MMA hurting the government, it would end up hurting itself. Therefore, the move to quit the assemblies has to be put on hold. The government, of course, would be working out its own game plan to counter the Opposition's scheme.
As it is, hectic activities are on between the Opposition parties to come together on a single point agenda of ousting President Musharraf from power. The least they can do is to use the resignation card together in the event the President seeks reelection from the present assemblies. This would be obvious enough to the powers-that-be. Hence it is unlikely that things would come to a point where the Opposition parties might think of quitting the assemblies.