Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal's decision to participate in the ensuing elections was final, as JUI workers have been asked to gear up the electioneering campaign, Secretary General MMA Maulana Fazlur Rehman said. Talking to local TV channel, he said JUI is part of MMA and it will not boycott the elections under any circumstances.
JUI will remain intact and will field its own candidates on Jamaat-i-Islami seats, even if they decide to boycott. Boycott would definitely prove a big mistake like resignations from the assemblies in the past. People who follow the decision of APDM's boycott were not on the path of MMA, he said.
Some powers want postponement of elections. Let the people be allowed to choose their representatives, he observed. "There is no atmosphere favouring boycott. Politics should move towards reconciliation and avoid agitation and violence," he added.
The MMA supreme council had decided that only unanimous boycott decision can prove effective. The supreme council also approved the MMA manifesto and talk of boycott by JI was astonishing, he said. In APDM-ARD Charter of Demands (CoDs) drafting committee, Professor Khurshid Ahmed represents JI and not MMA, he informed while replying to a question.
MMA was formed to clear perception of Muslims in general and Ulema in particular that they are not extremists and can do politics through peaceful means, he added. Maulana Fazlur Rehman said "Qazi Hussain Ahmed use to advise me to adopt reconciliatory attitude, but now I'm astonished that he has chosen the extreme path."
"Qazi should not leave his companions alone and avoid negative politics," he suggested. Responding to a query he said, JUI had suspended its membership from APDM on October 5.
To another question, Maulana said that in London APC conference JUI and other parties were invited on party basis, and not on behalf of MMA. About other component parties of MMA he said they are with JUI and participated in parliamentary board meeting the other day. JI was alone on the defiance path.