By Mohammad Imran
ISLAMABAD: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazlur Rehman group) leaders in Balochistan have asked the central leadership of the party not to take the current protest campaign by the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) against President General Pervez Musharraf, to Balochistan.
“Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani, the president of JUI-F Balochistan, has made it clear to Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the party president and the leader of the opposition, that the JUI-F Balochistan would not welcome the protest campaign in the province,” sources in the JUI-F told Daily Times.
They said Sherani also told Fazlur Rehman that the JUI-F had come into power in the province after many years, therefore it should rule the province calmly. “MMA should not hold a protest gathering in Balochistan that would destabilise the coalition government of the JUI-F and the Pakistan Muslim League (PML),” sources quoted Sherani as saying.
Sources said the Balochistan JUI-F also made it clear to the central leadership of the JUI-F that the MMA should not extend its campaign to the North West Frontier Provinces (NWFP) either, restricting its campaign to Punjab and Sindh.
Provincial leaders of the JUI-F have also suggested that the MMA hold gatherings in areas where the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) had National Assembly seats,” sources said.
They said the MMA leadership paid heed and announced protest gatherings in Punjab and Sindh. “Because of these reasons, the MMA has announced four protest gatherings in cities in Punjab and Sindh including Lahore, Rawalpindi, Karachi and Multan,” sources said.
Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, the deputy secretary general of the MMA, said that the MMA Supreme Council decided where the protest gatherings would be held. He said the first phase of the MMA protest campaign would be completed on December 19. “The second phase will start after December 19,” he said.
He also said that the strategy for the next phase of the protest campaign would be finalised at a supreme council meeting in Lahore on December 12.
He said there were many proposals for the second phase of the campaign but the final decision would be taken after internal consultations.
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