The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) postponed its Supreme Council meeting until March 20 amidst indications of a widening gulf between the components of the six religious parties alliance. The meeting was scheduled for today to elect a new president and to finalise plans for a mass contact campaign due to start April 6. However, it was delayed because Maulana Samiul Haq, chief of his own Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam faction (JUI-S), and Professor Sajid Mir, chairman of the Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith (MJA), again refused to participate. The JUI-S wants the Madrassas Ordinance and joint electorate to be cancelled and the military operation in the tribal areas ended before it will rejoin the alliance. The MJA wants the opposition leader slot in the Senate and a mass protest campaign against Gen Pervez Musharraf.
The Supreme Council had formed a four-member committee in its last meeting on March 6 to reconcile Mr Haq and Mr Mir with the alliance, but it has not succeeded. âThe MMA has governments in two provinces and a good working relationship with the Jamali government in the centre, so we put our demands before its leaders,â said Qazi Abdul Latif, senior vice-president of the JUI-S. Mr Latif said Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Maulana Fazlur Rehman, heads of the two biggest MMA parties (Jamaat-e-Islami and JUI-Fazl), should press the government to accept their demands. He said Mr Haq would not attend a Supreme Council meeting until these demands were satisfied. He said Mr Ahmed and Mr Rehman had not contacted Mr Haq, as was decided in the March 6 meeting. âQazi and Fazl do not want to resolve these internal disputes because it would challenge their monopoly,â said Mr Latif. |