Jamali efforts to win over MMA continue

Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali yesterday continued his efforts to win the backing of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) ahead of the vote of confidence he is to seek in the National Assembly on December 30.

If Jamali is unable to persuade the MMA to change its decision not to extend support to him, he will remain in a highly precarious position - with the vote in his favour as prime minister having been secured last month by only a single vote.

So far, expressing differences with the policies of the sitting government, the MMA has stated it will not be extending support to Jamali. The prime minister's remarks, at a press conference in Lahore on Saturday evening, stating that Pakistan had "no direct involvement" with Iraq, and as such little interest in an attack on it, is hardly likely to have endeared the MMA leadership to the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam (PML-QA)-led government.

In addition, Jamali also said he had no advance knowledge of the raid made to pick up Dr Ahmed Javed Khwaja, and that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was "not a part of this action."

Jamali's reluctance to condemn the FBI action has also not gone down well within the MMA, with Dr Khwaja a close relative of former Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) leader Hafiz Salman Butt, who won a seat from Lahore on the PML-N ticket. He still has a close affiliation with the JI.

Indeed, Jamali's press conference has not impressed many in Lahore, given that, according to one analyst "he seemed to lack confidence in what he was saying, did not deny that he was simply voicing the opinions of President Musharraf and was defensive throughout."

After a series of talks, the MMA on Saturday refused to hold out any assurance to Jamali that it would support him.

The prime minister visited Mansoora, the JI headquarters, at 11pm on Saturday to hold talks with MMA parliamentary leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed. After over an hour meeting (which included a 15-minute one-to-one meeting between the two leaders), Jamali told newsmen that the Qazi would talk to other MMA leaders for taking a "final stand" on the issue.

Accompanying the prime minister, Qazi Hussain, however, said the MMA had linked its support to the prime minister to the acceptance of its (MMA's) main demands which included full restoration of the 1973 constitution, steps ensuring supremacy of parliament and judiciary, and enforcement of Shariah.

About the last demand, Jamali said his government was ready to discuss the Islamic Ideology Council recommendations in the National Assembly before their implementation.

About other demands, the prime minister said the government would take gradual steps. The JI leader also said Jamali had promised to look into the arrest of the doctors allegedly by the FBI. Some women members of Dr Khwaja's family also met the prime minister at Mansoora and sought his intervention for the release of their detained members.