The Hindu : MMA having its way with Jamali

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 02, 2002

International

International

MMA having its way with Jamali

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD Dec. 1. The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), an alliance of six religious parties that made unexpected gains in the October general election, has begun to make socio-political impact on Pakistan.

Close on the heels of the announcement of a string of measures for the "Islamisation of the society" by the newly-elected North West Frontier Province Chief Minister, Akram Khan Durrani, the Prime Minister, Mir Zafarullah Jamali, has conceded the demand of the religious parties for the restoration of Friday as the weekly holiday in place of Sunday.

The concession by the Prime Minister is seen as a bid to woo the MMA to support his regime at the Centre. Mr. Jamali was elected as the Prime Minister on the floor of the National Assembly with a margin of just one vote. His Government has already lost majority after the Muttahida Quami Movement's (MQM) decision to sit in the Opposition, and in the last few days, managers of the Jamali Government have been engaged in hectic parleys with Opposition parties to ensure smooth sailing in the National Assembly.

Mr. Jamali is required to secure a confidence vote on the floor of the Assembly in the next 54 days.

Realising the precarious nature of support that ensured his election as PM, the pro-Musharraf parties have re-opened talks with the religious parties as well as Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party.

The constitutional amendments made by the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, was the major stumbling block in any pact between the pro and anti-Musharraf parties. Mr. Jamali has claimed that in the next few days, consensus would be evolved with the MMA on "constitutional matters" to give a workable set-up to the people.

The MMA is insisting that Gen. Musharraf give up his job as the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) and come through the Parliament route for his election as President. Before Mr. Jamali was elected PM, on the strength of defections from Ms. Bhutto's party, talks between pro-Musharraf and the MMA collapsed on the issue of continuation of Gen. Musharraf as the President in uniform as well as on some of the other controversial changes he has made in the Constitution.

Mr. Jamali, after a dialogue with the senior MMA leader, Fazlur Rahman, in Peshawar on Saturday, has said negotiations with the MMA leadership would be resumed after Eid-ul-Fitr (in the second week of December) and hoped that a proper solution would be found. "I will inform the President (Gen. Musharraf) and my party about the outcome of the discussion with the MMA leaders,'' he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Durrani began his innings with a string of measures aimed at what he has termed `Islamisation' of the society in accordance with Sharia (Islamic law). Minutes after he was elected Chief Minister, purely on the strength of religious parties, Mr. Durrani used the opportunity provided by his thanks giving address on the floor of the Provincial Assembly to impose a complete ban on sale of liquor and on gambling dens in the province.

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MMA having its way with Jamali