What Maulana Fazlur Rehman is up to?

Since his party's departure from the corridors of power, consequent to a spat over the Hajj scam, Maulana Fazlur Rehman has been in search of a role in national politics, commensurate with his standing in the country's politics. It is indeed a difficult task but not entirely beyond his reach, given his political astuteness and expertise in giving ever-new orientations to his positions at various times. When suited, he became part of General Musharraf's regime and after latter's departure, he joined the ruling coalition and bagged some ministerial posts.
Now that he is out on the street, he is trying to snatch the lead role from the main political parties by presenting a blueprint to give a clear, unified shape to the mounting public disenchantment. His concentration is, however, focused on three areas.
Firstly, Maulana Fazlur Rehman is working to revive the MMA, an alliance of the country's religious parties, which consequent to the controversial elections emerged as a high-visibility stakeholder in the Pakistani domestic, political scenario. This had helped the dictator to present this force as an effective opponent in relations with the anti-terrorism international alliance. It worked well, even in local political discourse, when the cry became louder for the general to shed his uniform.
On the face of it, his efforts to court and woo back his erstwhile partners in the MMA is a ploy to widen the circle. But who knows how they would react in the coming months, when the storm now appearing on the national horizon gathers momentum and becomes a hurricane, as had been the case in the past. The JUI (F) had earned its MMA allies' severe scorn for joining the last elections which the latter had boycotted. Naturally they would like to scrutinise the pros and cons of the Maulana's move.
Secondly, Maulana Fazlur Rehman is taking extra pains to retract the prevailing impression that the religious parties are unspoken natural allies of the sectarian extremists, who are busy destroying the very foundations of this state. On Friday, he took a clear and bold stand on the 'misuse' of the law on blasphemy - a stand which even Prime Minister Gilani is afraid of taking.
Next day, addressing his party convention in Lahore, he denounced extremism describing the extremists as a creation of the Establishment. Definitely, his position on the 'misuse' of the blasphemy law opens a window of opportunity for a wider discussion on the law's procedural aspects. Perhaps, unless the Maulana does a somersault, the ice has been broken and space made available to civil society, cowered under the pressure built around it by its inquisitional dimension.
Of course, the substantial content of the blasphemy law has never been part of any public debate or discussion, but its 'misuse', resulting from its application procedure is an issue. Thirdly, the JUI (I)'s dinner, Friday night, is said to be another move in the same direction. Guess who came to the dinner, leaders of all political parties, including the MQM. And missing from the sumptuous meal were the PPP and Imran Khan; the latter, too, is said to being wooed to come into the loop.
The agenda was national issues, which the opposition thinks emerge from the government's inefficiency and its biased view of the superior judiciary. But, an unidentified 'insider' is said to have informed the media of this being the first brick for a joint political movement to dislodge the present dispensation, indicating more such meetings are expected in coming days. He may well be right.
Otherwise, a similar offer was recently made by President Zardari by inviting all the political stakeholders, but the opposition did not respond. Will such a movement in the present circumstances stay the course and not be hijacked by the Bonapartists, as has invariably happened in the past, is a matter deserving equal attention of the sponsors of the new movement.