MMA holds meeting to iron out rift over ticket distribution

PESHAWAR: The supreme council of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) is going to meet today to resolve disputes over the distribution of tickets for different constituencies in various districts as deadlock over the disputed seats persisted.

The central parliamentary board of the alliance failed to resolve the disputes in a series of meetings and hectic efforts that continued for nearly two weeks.

The disputed seats rather increased from 16 to 19 during these meetings instead of being resolved or decreased, sources privy to these meetings told The News.

Final decision about all the disputed seats would be taken in today’s meeting of the central heads of the parties being held in Islamabad.

The meeting would be co-chaired by president and general secretary of the alliance Maulana Fazlur Rahman and Sirajul Haq.

Earlier, two constituencies in Mansehra and one in Nowshera districts had been cleared. But during these meetings the leadership of both Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) withdrew their previous commitments and revived their claims over these constituencies.

As per the earlier commitment, JI had withdrawn its claim over the two provincial assembly seats in Mansehra in return of JUI-F’s withdrawal from PK-65, Nowshera. However, now these claims have also been revived.

The JUI-F wants this ticket for its candidate Tariq Khan Khattak, a new entrant in the party, which had already been decided in favour of JI’s Jawwad Nabi Seena.

The disputed seats include PK-7, Swat VI where JI has nominated former provincial minister Hussain Ahmad Kanju and JUI-F has fielded Mumtaz Mujahid.

On PK-20, Buner-I both the parties have the strong claims. The JI wants the ticket for former speaker Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Bakht Jahan Khan, while JUI-F wants it for former MPA Maulana Fazal Ghafoor.

Two each provincial assembly seats in Shangla and Mansehra districts and one each in Abbottabad and Battagram could also not be decided.

Another disputed seat is PK-55, Mardan VIII. The JI wants the ticket for another former minister Fazle Rabbani advocate, while JUI-F wants it for Shahid Khan.

On PK 81, Kohat-II, the JI wants the ticket for former member provincial assembly Dr Iqbal Fana, while the JUI-F wants the same ticket for Major Shedad.

On PK-85, Karak-I, former provincial minister Mian Nisar Gul has been awarded ticket by JUI-F, while JI wants the ticket for Colonel (Retd) Mohammad Khan.

On PK-86, Karak-II former provincial minister Malik Zafar Azam is the JUI-F nominee and JI wants the seat for Rehamanullah.

On PK 88, Bannu, JUI-F has nominated Zahid Durrani and JI wants the ticket to be given to Akhtar Ali Shah.

On PK-93, Lakki Marwat, JUI-F has nominated Anwar Hayat, while JI wants the ticket for Azizullah Marwat.

On PK 99, Dera Ismail Khan, former opposition leader in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Maulana Lutfur Rahman wants to try his luck. But JI wants this ticket for Fathullah Miankhel.

The MMA has also failed to decided tickets on any constituency in the tribal areas where most likely all the seats except NA-46, Kurram-II may be kept open and both the major parties of the alliance - JUI-F and JI - may contest on these seats.

The NA-46 has already been pledged to the provincial vice-president of the alliance Allama Hameed Hussain Imami of Pakistan Islamic Tehreek (PIT).