An attempt by leaders of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal to begin a settlement between rival sectarian groups Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Muhammad has ended in failure.MMA leaders Liaqat Baloch and Maulana Abdul Gahfoor Haidery approached leaders of the two militant organisations, both of which have been banned by the government, with the proposal that they pardon each other's members who are on death row, Baloch told Daily Times. The MMA leaders spoke first with LJ leaders, who consented to Baloch and Haidery taking the proposal to the SM. Baloch and Haidery proposed to Rashid Akbar Nawani, MNA from Bhakkar, that if he got a pardon for LJ militant Hafiz Shafiqur Rehman, convicted of murdering a Shia cleric in 1997, the LJ would try to get pardons for three SM militants -- Munawar Abbass, Qamar Abbas and Qazi Shahnawaz -- on death row in Dera Ghazi Khan Jail for the murder of LJ militant Aslam alias Achoo in Karor tehsil, Layyah district.
Baloch said they approached Nawani last month after President Gen Pervez Musharraf rejected Rehman's mercy petition. However, Nawani did not agree to the proposal, and Rehman was hanged at Multan jail on August 9. Lashkar-e-Jhangiv is a Sunni militant group and Sipah-e-Muhammad a Sunni [sic] militant group.