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India-Pakistan

Fazl hints at MMA break-up

2007-12-11

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Monday hinted at a break-up of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) on the issue of contesting the upcoming elections. “Yes, there is a possibility of a MMA breakup,” Fazl told reporters at a press conference after meeting the ambassadors of different Islamic countries here. Fazl said he had already told the all-parties’ conference (APC) in London that it would be impossible for the opposition to boycott the elections because the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) participation would make them credible. He said in the Tuesday meeting of the MMA Supreme Council that he would ask MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmed to take part in the polls. Fazl said the time for one-on-one contests against government-backed candidates was over, which is why he had made seat adjustments with other parties where possible.

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India-Pakistan

APDM announces polls boycott

2007-11-25

The APDM on Saturday announced that it would boycott the elections unless the government restores the country to pre-November 3 situation by Wednesday. “We give a four-day ultimatum to the government to revert to the pre-November 3 situation, otherwise the APDM will boycott the elections,” PML-N Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq told a news conference after the meeting. Haq asked other opposition parties, including the PPP, to endorse the APDM decision and boycott the polls. The JUI-F boycotted the meeting. That would seem to violate Nawaz' agreement with Perv within moments of its coming into existence. The PML-N leader demanded that the government withdraw the PCO, lift emergency, reinstate judges and release all detained political activists, besides annulling amendments to the PEMRA Ordinance. He told reporters that all component parties would separately get the APDM decision endorsed by their respective executive committees within four days. He said that if any party took part in the elections, it would be evicted from the APDM. MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmed said the final decision on boycott would be taken on the platform of the six-party religious alliance.

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India-Pakistan

Haideri and Baloch try to save MMA from split

2007-10-08

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Secretary General Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Punjab Ameer Liaquat Baloch are trying to save the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), which is on the verge of collapse after serious differences arose between JI Ameer Qazi Hussain Ahmed and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman over the dissolution of the NWFP Assembly and en bloc resignations from the assemblies, Daily Times learnt here on Sunday. The JUI-F and JI are the biggest components of the five-party religious alliance. Qazi, Fazl not on speaking terms: Sources said that MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmed and MMA Secretary General Maulana Fazlur Rehman were not on speaking terms. Haideri and Baloch held a meeting to defuse the tension between the two leaders. The sources said that another meeting was expected in the next few days to resolve the issue. Haideri told Daily Times, “It is true that I have met with Baloch to resolve the crisis although the JI deserted the JUI-F on the issue of the NWFP Assembly’s dissolution.”

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India-Pakistan

En bloc resignations from NA on 29th, says MMA

2007-09-27

The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) on Wednesday announced that the legislators of the religious alliance would resign en bloc from the National Assembly on September 29. The announcement came after a meeting of the MMA parliamentary party held at Al Markaz-e-Islami. MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmed chaired the meeting attended by a large number of MNAs and MPAs. NWFP Assembly dissolution: The MMA also announced that the alliance would take a decision on resignations from the provincial assemblies and dissolution of the NWFP Assembly in the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) meeting today (Thursday). Briefing the media, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Deputy Secretary General Fareed Paracha said that President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s re-election was an insult to the Constitution and democracy. He said the MMA would use all options to block Gen Musharraf’s re-election and the religious alliance’s decisions were in line with the decisions taken by the APDM. He added that the parliamentary party meeting was aimed at taking all MMA MNAs and MPAs into confidence. “We’ll resign from the NA on September 29 and if anyone tries to obstruct us we will move court,” he said. MMA leader Maulana Shujaul Mulk said the decision to quit the assemblies was final. “However, the decision to dissolve the NWFP Assembly will be taken today (Thursday) in the APDM meeting,” he added. He said the MMA would give full support to Justice (r) Wajeehuddin Ahmed in the presidential election against Gen Musharraf. He said the Pakistan People’s Party had made a wrong decision to field Makhdoom Amin Fahim as presidential candidate.

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India-Pakistan

JUI-S not part of APDM, says Qari Gul Rehman

2007-09-19

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Senior (JUI-S) of Pir Abdur Rahim Naqshbandi has refused to make an alliance with the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM), indicating differences in Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA). We will not follow the instructions and agenda of the APDM as our party is not part of the alliance, said JUI-S General Secretary MNA Qari Gul Rehman while talking to Daily Times. JUI-S used to be JUI-Sami. Naqshbandis are generically Sufis -- one of Zark's calculated atrocities was to dig up a Naqshbandi grave in Kurdistan -- but I believe this one has jumped ship and become a Deobandi or worse. Mullah Sandwich was bounced from his namesake party when his ego outgrew the MMA. That was back when Perv was in top form. Rehman said the JUI-S was still part of the MMA, however, it had nothing to do with the APDM. He said the APDM included the parties that had taken part in agitation against late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1977, while the JUI-S did not support them at that time. He said that while the MMA was a political alliance, sometime its top leaders took dictatorial decisions and the MMA leadership neither took the JUI-S into confidence nor discussed matters pertaining to its merger with the APDM with JUI-S leaders. Rehman also criticised the MMA leadership for casting doubts on JUI-S members because of their support for President General Pervez Musharraf. However, Rehman added that neither he nor his party was ready to support Musharraf in current political scenario. Asked about his request to the MMA for fielding a presidential candidate from his party, Rehman said the request was pending with MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmed.

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India-Pakistan

NA speaker accepts Qazi's resignation

2007-07-27

National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain on Thursday formally accepted the resignation of MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmed. "Thanks ever so. Now scram." Qazi’s NA seat in Nowshera has been declared vacant and the assembly secretariat has informed the Election Commission about his resignation. The EC will later announce the schedule for a by-election on the vacant seat.

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India-Pakistan

Blast result of govt policies: opposition

2007-04-29

The opposition political parties on Saturday condemned the Charsadda suicide bombing and termed it a result of “ill-conceived policies” of the federal government. The parties expressed relief that Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao and his son had survived the attack and wished them an early recovery. Pakistan People’s Party Information Secretary Sherry Rehman said that it was a very unfortunate incident that showed that the government had failed to maintain its writ. She said supporting fundamentalists would lead to more such attacks. “We condemn this incident in the strongest possible terms. But unfortunately, it is the result of the government’s policies,” said Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Information Secretary Ahsan Iqbal. Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) leader Liaquat Baloch condemned the incident and said that it looked as though terrorism had gripped the entire NWFP province. “Our rulers have brought a battle being fought out of our country to our frontiers just to appease their foreign masters,” Baloch said. Awami National Party chief Asfandyar Wali termed the incident alarming and urged all political forces to join hands to take the country out of the present predicament. MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmed said in Lahore, “Such acts prevent leaders from communicating with the people.”

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India-Pakistan

MMA decides to resign from NA 'in principle'

2006-11-17

The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) Supreme Council has decided “in principle” that its legislators will resign from the National Assembly in protest at the Protection of Women Bill, but not decided on when they will do so. MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmed told a press conference after the Supreme Council meeting that the final decision would be taken in an MMA parliamentary party meeting in Islamabad on December 6. Sources privy to the meeting, which continued for about five hours, said that there was a clear split in the alliance and within its component parties over the resignations. Qazi Hussain, chief of the Jamaat-e-Islami, insisted that MMA legislators should resign immediately, but Maulana Fazalur Rehman pressed for more time to “consult religious scholars and law experts” on whether the bill is against the teachings of Islam. He initially opined that this would take at least four more days. Maulana Fazl also suggested that the alliance could hold talks with the government to introduce amendments to the bill before it is put before the Senate for approval.

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India-Pakistan

Qazi and Fazl still at odds over resignations

2006-07-18

The Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl), the two major components of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), have failed to reach agreement on the issue of mass resignations from parliament. The matter was discussed in an MMA Supreme Council meeting chaired by MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmed, who is also chief of the JI, at Markaz-e-Islami on Monday. "Every effort by the JI and JUI to convince each other over the issue failed," sources said. JUI chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman reportedly opposed Qazi Hussain's stance on the mass resignation on opposition parliamentarians, saying this was not an "appropriate time".

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India-Pakistan

Nawaz never met Osama, says PML-N

2006-03-20

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Sunday stated that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had never met Osama bin Laden. In a press statement, PML-N Secretary General Siddique-ul-Farooq said that the PML-N leader had neither held a meeting with the Al Qaeda chief, nor did they discuss political cooperation. Reacting to a recent statement by MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmed, that said that bin Laden wanted Sharif to become prime minister, the PML-N secretary general said that that might be a personal opinion of the Al Qaeda chief. He said that since Sharif never met one of the most-wanted men on earth, there was no question of him asking for his support. He said that Sharif believed in the power of the electorate and would be elected prime minister again.

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Afghanistan/South Asia

MMA bitches about military operations in the tribal areas

2004-09-12

Pakistan's main Islamist alliance on Saturday criticised the army's operation against Al Qaeda militants in Waziristan tribal agency as the "worst kind of state terrorism". "This operation was being carried out to please the American forces in the region. Unfortunately, Pakistani troops are directly involved in this state terrorism," MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmed told reporters in Abotabad. Terming as a "blatant lie" that foreigners were being killed in the bombing of Waziristan, he said not only Pakistanis were being ruthlessly killed but women and children were the main victims. "On top of it bombs do not differentiate between the foreigners and locals-they are made to kill --- and that what precisely was the case in Waziristan", he said referring to aerial strikes by Pakistan military against the militants hideouts in the past few days.

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