The MMA revival

The revival of religious parties' electoral alliance - Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal - and the National Assembly Speaker's 'controversial' remarks about the current political situation come as two highly important developments to the fore in the run-up to the general elections. Speaker Ayaz Sadiq said he fears that the National and Provincial Assemblies might not complete their terms because he foresees a "greater plan" in the making. This despite the fact that, as he said, all the opposition parties intend to see the government complete its tenure - except one. The party that he singled out is Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf of Imran Khan, who is the force behind the woes of the increasingly beleaguered PML-N government.
But the real reason behind the Speaker's comments is parliament's failure to pass the delimitation bill. And he expects the smaller provinces to move the court in this regard. The uncertainty looms just ahead of the upcoming general elections and the Speaker's remarks have only added to the current situation plagued by doubts and suspicions.
The religious parties have, however, taken a pragmatic approach to the present situation by deciding to revive the MMA, the alliance that had catapulted them into power in two provinces following the 2002 general elections, besides making them influential in the National Assembly and Senate. At a meeting in Karachi on Wednesday, MMA leaders said that a decision has been taken not only to revive alliance but also to attach an 'Ulema Mashaikh' wing to it. Senior religious politician, Sajid Mir, believes the MMA should have been revived much earlier.
The alliance will hold its next meeting in Balochistan where a decision on Fata's future will be taken. It will launch a mass contact campaign "with full force" at the start of the new year and the allies will decide whether to part ways with the present government. The Jamaa-e-Islami's chief Sirajul Haq admitted, however, that there are many reservations within the revived alliance in connection with the elections.
The religious parties had failed to forge a similar alliance at the time of the 2008 and 2013 elections, because of a host of reasons. Syed Munawwar Hassan, who then headed the Jamaat, was denied a second term by the party mainly because of his highly controversial remarks about what constitutes a martyr. He is said to be the main stumbling block to JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman's efforts in that direction. Munawwar Hassan had expressed his contempt and lack of trust in Maulana Fazlur Rahman because of latter's shrewd approach to politics. Muawwar's late predecessor, Qazi Husain Ahmed, was the moving spirit behind the formation of the MMA in early 2002. The revived MMA features almost all the religious organisations that constituted it 15 years ago.
Maulana Fazlur Rahman has used this occasion to garner support for his party's stance on mainstreaming of the Fata question, and this could be easily discerned from his remarks on it. "I have discussed the Fata issue with good intentions and there are hopes that this issue will be solved anytime soon." The introduction of the "Ulema Mashaikh" wing seems to have been necessitated by the strong showing of candidates supported by some religious parties and groups in the NA-120 by-elections following the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif and the successful Faizabad and the Mall sit-ins by religious groups which are said to enjoy the establishment's support, despite their claim to be "non-political."
The MMA had owed its victory in the 2002 elections to a variety of external factors, particularly the growing Islamphobia in the West following the 9/11 event, followed by the US invasion of Afghanistan. The US declaration of Jerusalem as Israel's capital has thrown up a golden opportunity for Pakistan's religious alliance to reach out to people in an effective and meaningful manner. Today's "million march" in Karachi, the first major protest in the country since White House's Jerusalem announcement this month, will come in handy for the MMA to brighten its electoral prospects.