MMA future is bleak: JUI-S

BATKHELA: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Sami (JUI-S) provincial chief Maulana Yousaf Shah on Monday said that the future of alliance of religio-political parties Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) was bleak.

Speaking at a press conference at the Malakand Press Club here, he said that the purpose of the alliance was to reach the corridors of power and not to serve Islam. “We pulled out of the previous six-party alliance after two years of its formation in 2002 as it did not stick to its agenda and clung on to power,” he added.

He alleged that the lawmakers of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) had indulged in horse-trading and would not vote for the party candidates in the upcoming Senate election.

Maulana Yousaf Shah said JUI-S chief Maulana Samiul Haq had submitted his nomination papers for contesting the Senate election in independent capacity. He claimed that lawmakers of various parties had assured to vote for the JUI-S chief in the election to the Upper House of the Parliament.

The JUI-S leader said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had rendered more services to Islam than MMA. Yousaf Shah said that JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman was opposing the stipend for the prayer leaders but 80 percent of those who had applied for the same were associated with his party.