Speakers at a workers convention of the recently revived Mutahhida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) said on Sunday that they would render any sacrifice to get rid of secularism and liberalism. They said the alliance would implement Sharia laws in the country after coming to power in July 25 election. The alliance of four clerical parties (representing Deobandi, Barelvi, Shi’ite, and Ahle Hadith schools) and Islamist Jamaat Islami was first established under the patronage of former dictator General (retd) Pervaiz Musharraf for 2002. However, the alliance collapsed ahead of the 2008 general elections but has lately been revived by its leading players, Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl and Jamaat Islami. The other three parties in the alliance are Markaz-e-Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith of Sajid Mir, the Islami Tehreek of Allama Sajid Naqvi and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan-Noorani of Shah Ahmad Noorani. At the convention on Sunday, Fazlur Rehman represented the JUI-F), Siraj-ul-Haq the JI, Pir Ijaz Hashmi the JUP-N, and Allama Arif Wahidi the IT. The MMA candidate for Islamabad’s NA-53 and NA-54 seats, Mian Aslam, was also present on the occasion. Addressing the gathering, Fazalur Rehman said engineering of the country’s elections had a long history and was overseen by the security establishment and civil bureaucracy. He said these forces gave guarantees to international players about candidates the latter sought in power who agreed to pursue ‘western agenda in Pakistan’. Targetting international institutions, Rehman said the United Nations Security Council had double standards for the West and the Muslim world. The JUI-F leader said the country’s budget was also prepared on dictation of international powers. Allama Arif Wahidi of the IT said, “we have forgotten the ideology on the basis of which the country came into being.” Responding to a widespread criticism of the alliance that it merely sought power and lacked any ideological affinity among its members, Wahidi said, “Yes, we demand Islamabad but that is because Islam and Islamabad are connected to each other.” Referring to laws on the Finality of Prophethood, he said that the MMA would battle all those trying to ‘turn the holy land into the land of liberals, seculars and apostates’. JI’s Siraj-ul-Haq took oath from the gathering that they would ‘leave no stone unturned’ till the release of Dr. Afia Siddique imprisoned in the US. He said that the alliance would form a new pro-peace policy for foreign relations. Haq said that even though the building of the Parliament House carried verses of the Holy Quran inscribed on its façade, it remained occupied by corrupt people and thieves who have looted the resource of the country. He said the MMA would recover all the stolen wealth and deposit it for use by the Baitul Maal. Earlier in the month, the MMA had announced its election manifesto ‘based on a free foreign policy, implementation of Nizam-e-Mustafa (PBUH), safeguarding of all Islamic provisions in the Constitution, empowerment of the Parliament, freedom of the judiciary, devolution of powers, provision of education and employment opportunities, abolition of unnecessary direct and indirect taxes, provision of subsidies on necessity items, construction of new dams, effective mechanisms for generation and distribution of power, establishment of new provinces bases on ethnicity, and practical measures to end the water crisis’. Published in Daily Times, June 25th 2018.