It is no secret that Pakistan’s religious parties big and small have a direct hotline to the GHQ and their actions are choreographed by the ISI. The clear give away that the usual invisible hand is at work is the fact that JuD has been roped in to MMA revival plans

Pakistan’s religious parties have begun an exercise aimed at closing their ranks with an eye on the 2018 ballot.  Deputy Senate Chairman and Jamiat Ulema-i- Islam-F Secretary-General Abdul Ghafoor Haideri visited Monday, July 25th, the headquarters of the Jamaat-i-Islam (JI) and Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD) to “explore possibilities of alliance among the religious parties”.
At JI head office Mansoora, Haidri met with Liaquat Balcoh, the JI’s secretary general. JI deputy chiefs Mian Aslam, Asadullah Bhutto, Dr Farid Ahmed Piracha, JI chief for Khyber Pakhtunkhawa (KP) Mushtaq Ahmed were also present. Maulana Amjad Khan accompanied Maulana Haideri.
At the JuD headquarters, the JUI-F leader held a meeting with head of political affairs, Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki.
Haideri’s party has formed a committee to contact religious parties “for developing a consensus to maintain religious identity of the country and momentum for Kashmir struggle”. Expectedly Haideri holds the view that only religious parties could provide leadership, “which is selfless and honest”. He also avers that the religious parties must become an effective platform to meet the challenges faced by the country. His case is that if the religious parties do not step forward, the country would lose on national issues like Kashmir “due to internal divisions among parties and rampant corruption at the national level”.
Liaquat Baloch shared Haider’s perception. So did Makki. Liaquat Baloch said religious parties and their vote bank are realities of Pakistan.  “Education system and cultural values are also under attack, and to protect them is the duty of all”. Makki agreed with Haideri that unity of religious organisations for protection of Pakistan’s ideology, restoration of Islamic status and to highlight Kashmir was need of the hour.
These talks show that Pakistan is refusing to move out of the shadows of Gen Zia-ul-Haq, who had set in motion the Talibanisation of the country. It is too early to say whether the religious parties will succeed in reviving the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (United Council of Action) which they had formed as a challenge to military dictator General Pervez Musharraf in 2002.
MMA was not the first such alliance, The Islamic political parties united on a single platform in 1993 as “Islamic Front” but it did not last for long. Its death knell was sounded by JUI (F) which decided to support of Benazir Bhutto of PPP against the Pakistan Muslim League.   President Musharraf’s decision to support the US war in Afghanistan provided the impetus for the creation of MMA but this experiment in right-wing conservatism was short-lived.  Disagreement on the issue of boycotting the 2008 general election led to its demise at the national level.   The JUI (F) led by its leader, cleric Fazl-ur-Rahman was the first to leave the alliance over the poll boycott issue. Later it sided with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), and became a part of the government.
In 2010, 2012, and 2016 religious parties did their best to resurrect the MMA but success did not come their way. Early this year, in April, JI chief Sirajul Haq gave the green light to Maulana Fazlur Rehman, ‘authorising’ the latter to lead the initiative “to unite the religious parties to contest the next general elections from a single platform”. Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s disenchantment with Nawaz Sharif has paved the way for these parleys.  During the last Senate elections, JUI-F sided with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and this cost the ruling PML-N the slot of the Senate chairman.
Senior leaders of JI and JUI-F had held a series of meetings behind closed doors and hammered out modalities for “the future alliance” so that the mistakes, which had led to the breakup of the MMA, could be avoided.
“Differences between the two parties were the main hurdle in reviving the religious parties’ bloc and as the differences have been hammered out by the leadership and chances seemed bright to restore the alliance,” a senior JI leader was quoted as saying in The Nation on April 10, 2017.
The report also quoted sources as saying that the scope and mandate of the alliance would be different from that of the MMA and now Milli Yakjehti Council members would also be invited to join the alliance to wage a united front to face off opponents. Milli Yakjahti Council (MYC) head Maulana Abul Khair Mohammad Zubair has been taken into confidence by the JUI-F leadership.
It is no secret that the religious parties big and small have a direct hotline to the GHQ and their actions are choreographed by the ISI. The clear give away that the usual invisible hand is at work is the fact that JuD has been roped in to MMA revival plans.
–By M Rama Rao