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| India-Pakistan |
| Religio-political alliance in the offing |
| 2010-08-23 |
| The next general elections could see another religio-political alliance in the field as efforts are underway to bring Sunni parties onto one political platform before the elections. Sources told Daily Times on Sunday that Deobandi and Ahl-e-Hadith parties will not be included in the proposed Sunni-political alliance, which is expected to be named 'Sunni Ittehad Council'. This development comes amid talks of revival of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA). Maulana Fazlur Rehman's disposition to keep his alliance with the government has marred prospects of MMA's restoration. This forced the Sunni leaders to form a new religious alliance based. The MMA leadership has conditioned revival of the alliance to Rehman distancing himself from the government, which he is not ready to do yet. Sources in religious parties said that Rehman kept assuring alliance members that he would quit government after the revival of the MMA, however, they asked him to quit before revival of the alliance. The allied parties have now conditioned calling a meeting of MMA leadership with Rehman's withdrawal from government. Attacks on Data Darbar, blamed on militants belonging to the Deobandi sect also played a role in distancing Sunnis from Deobandi and Ahl-e-Hadith politicians and paved the way for a new Sunni alliance. Following the attacks, Sahibzada Fazal-e-Karim, a prominent Sunni leader, who is now in the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), had demanded the Punjab government to remove Law Minister Rana Sanaullah from his position because of his alleged links to the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba, but his demand was not entertained. Karim is now actively working to form a Sunni alliance. Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Hamid Saeed Kazmi also favours the formation of a Sunni alliance but he and Sahibzada Karim also face a situation similar to the one confronting Rehman. The Sunni leadership has asked both men to quit PML-N and Pakistan People's Party, if they are interested in the formation of Sunni Ittehad Council. Karim and Kazmi, despite having their own religious parties, had contested the 2008 general elections on the tickets of PML-N and PPP, respectively. Sources said that the two, like Rehman, are adopting delaying tactics and might be left out of the new alliance. Karim heads Markazi Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Pakistan while Kazmi is the General Secretary of Nizam-e-Mustafa Pakistan led by Haji Hanif Tayyab. Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan, headed by Sahibzada Abul Khair Muhammad Zubair; Nizam-e-Mustafa Pakistan, Sunni Tehrik led by Sarwat Ejaz Qadri; Markazi Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan led by Sahibzada Fazal-e-Karim; Jamaat Ahl-e-Sunnat led by Sahibzada Mazhar Saeed and other smaller parties will be part of the proposed Sunni Ittehad Council. |
| Posted by:Fred |