MMA launches election campaign with power show in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), a conglomerate of five religio-political parties, has formally launched election campaign from the capital city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by arranging an impressive show of power on Sunday night.

Thousands of workers of the five component parties of the alliance hailing from different constituencies of the provincial capital attended the gathering. The gathering continued till 12 midnight and the number of participants kept rising.

People from different areas of the city were brought to the venue of the gathering on the Ring Road near the Pishtakhara Chowk in vehicular processions. The MMA candidates for national and provincial assemblies led the processions to the venue.

Starting time for the gathering had been fixed at 6 pm, but the formal proceedings began two hours late. The spacious ground was full to capacity. The MMA candidates for the five National Assembly and 14 provincial assembly seats also spoke on the occasion.

However, the central and provincial leaders of the alliance and its component parties were the key speakers. They included Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman, Jamaat-i-Islami head Sirajul Haq, MMA’s general secretary Liaquat Baloch, vice-president Awais Noorani, former chief minister Akram Khan Durrani, provincial president of the alliance Maulana Gul Naseeb Khan, JI provincial chief Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan and leaders of Pakistan Islami Tehreek, Jamiat Ahle Hadees.

Maulana Fazlur Rahman criticised the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf for its five-year rule in the province. He said that the representatives of the “Jewish lobby” were bent upon uprooting the Pakhtun culture and the love of the proud Pakhtuns for Islam.

The Maulana said the Pakhtuns would shatter their designs and express love for Islam through the ballot on July 25. He congratulated Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his success in the presidential elections in Turkey. He said that an awakening movement had already been started in the Muslim world and Pakistan and the Islamist forces would emerge victorious in Pakistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the next general election.

Speaking on the occasion, Sirajul Haq said that the MMA was an alliance of clean and honest people. He said neither the Panama Papers leaks contained the names of the MMA leaders nor were they wanted by the National Accountability Bureau.

Sirajul Haq promised that the MMA after coming into power would ensure easy access of the people to education and health like it did during its rule in the province from 2002-2007.He said that unemployment allowance would be given to the youth and old-age allowance to the elderly people.

The JI chief said the province could produce 43,000 megawatts hydel electricity but the successive governments badly failed to produce even one megawatt.He added the MMA had established Malakand-III projects and would execute more such projects to overcome the issue of electricity loadshedding.