The Sami-ul-Haq faction
of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam will soon leave the Muttahida
Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), sources told.
Senior JUI-S leaders are leaning on Maulana
Sami-ul-Haq to follow the supreme council’s recommendations
and leave the MMA, sources said. The party’s supreme
council at its Jan15 meeting decided to split from the
MMA because the JUI-F and the JI had refused to accommodate
the party’s demands. The JUI-S has two representatives
in the NWFP Assembly and three in the National Assembly.
The supreme council had given a month
to Maulana Sami to persuade MMA leaders to accept its
demands and had suggested splitting from the MMA if they
did not. The defection may come as a severe blow to the
religious parties’ alliance which plans to start
anti-Musharraf campaign after Ramazan.
The JUI-S has been a key component of
the alliance founded during the October 2002 elections.
The other three parties — Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Noorani
(JUI-N), Jamiat Ahle Hadees and Islami Tehrik —
are also said to have developed differences with the JI
and JI-F.
Source also said the JUI-F and the JI
did not support the Sharia bill sponsored by Maulana Hamid-ul-Haq,
an MNA from the JUI-S. Both parties have not been conferring
with the JUI-S on important decisions over the last 12
months.
A source said that the JUI-S would announce
its decision just before the end of Ramazan.
