Split in anti-Musharraf camp widens over move to resign from parliament

Islamabad: Differences in the anti-Musharraf alliance deepened yesterday after a key leader said lawmakers of his religious parties' group would not resign from parliament.

The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) secretary general, Fazlur Rahman, who is also the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, said his group was not consulted on the opposition move to resign from parliament.

Rahman said his party had no role in the All-Party Democratic Movement (APDM) decision to resign from the assemblies.

Criticising the decision, he asked how a single party in the MMA could endorse the decision without taking the other parties in the religious-political alliance into confidence.

He was pointing a finger at the Jamat-e-Islami by saying a "single party" whose chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad was instrumental in finalising the date for resignation and starting an agitation against President Musharraf's re-election bid.

Stunned

The APDM leaders were stunned by such sharp criticism by the leader of a constituent party and were confused in their responses. Rahman has a good grip on the provincial assembly in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and is a central player in the fight against the government.

"Maulana's [Rahman] flight in a different direction proved the analysts' doubts correct that there were deep divisions among the MMA over the resignation issue and the rift between the JI leader and MMA chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad," Mahmud Ali, a political commentator, said.

He said though Rahman met exiled prime minister Nawaz Sharif twice in Jeddah, his track record proved he would not go against the current regime. However, Hussain, a hardliner, "is a different case", he added.

APDM convener Raja Zafarul Haq disputed Rahman's claim and said that before he left for Jeddah to perform Umrah, he was given a complete briefing on the course of action. "Rahman was duly told that the APDM, in its session in his absence, would finalise the date of resignation. He had endorsed the action and promised to follow the date of submitting resignations," he added.