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Elections throw Pakistan's Iran, Iraq ties in
focus
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - With an alliance of Islamic parties
giving an unexpectedly strong showing in Pakistan's
elections last week, a major shift in the country’s
foreign and internal policies can be expected.
The Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal (United Action Front
- MMA), a grouping of six religious political parties,
secured 53 seats in the national parliament, and a
controlling representation in the North West Frontier
Province (NWFP) Assembly, and the largest single party
status in the Balochistan Assembly, both of which
provinces lie in Pakistan's volatile Pashtun tribal area
on the border with Afghanistan.
The MMA garnered
the third largest number of federal parliament seats -
after the Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam (PML-QA)
with 73 and the Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarian
(PPPP) with 63 - but 12 independent candidates who won
from the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas and some
other parts of the country have announced that they will
join the MMA.
The key issue now, as horsetrading
begins over the formation of the new government to take
office in November, is whether the Islamic forces that
have banded together under the umbrella of the MMA will
be able to join with another party to form a ruling
majority, or whether they will have to go it alone in
opposition.
Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the chief of the
Jamaat-i-Islami, the premier fundamentalist party in the
country and a leading member of the MMA, who was elected
to the national assembly, has vowed to close down the US
air bases in Pakistan. Further, the secretary general of
the MMA, who is also the chief of his own faction of the
Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam (this party is a real force in
the MMA) has said that the MMA's eyes are firmly set on
changing the country's current foreign policy as a
matter of priority.
Talking to Asia Times Online
from Lahore, the assistant secretary general of the MMA
and deputy chief of the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), Liaquat
Baloch, who was elected from Lahore and who is widely
tipped to be the next speaker of the national assembly,
maintained that the MMA would bring about major changes.
"[President] General Pervez Musharraf should
realize that his policies have for a second time been
refused by the masses. The first time people did not
cast votes in the referendum, and the second time they
elected the MMA, which is an indictment on government
policies," said Baloch in reference to the recent
poorly-supported referendum in which Musharraf was
granted a further five years as president.
"We
do not see the USA or any other Western power as our
enemy, but they have to leave Pakistan soil and close
down intervention in Pakistan and neighboring Muslim
countries," added Baloch.
In answer to a
question on tracking down al-Qaeda members in Pakistan,
Baloch replied, "If somebody crosses Pakistani borders
illegally, he should be taken to task as per the law. He
should not be gunned down or handed over to the USA.
This is our policy."
On Monday, the president of
the MMA, veteran politician Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani,
held a press briefing at which he clearly outlined that
banning militant organizations that are fighting in
Indian-held Kashmir was clearly against the national
interest, and that the ban should immediately be lifted.
Under intense pressure from the US, Musharraf has
attempted to curb militants groups operating from
Pakistani soil.
An important aspect of the
emergence of the Islamic parties is Pakistan's future
relations with Iran and Iraq. The JI's Qazi Hussain
Ahmed is well liked in Tehran, and whenever he visits
the country he is treated like a head of state. He has
had ties with the Islamic parties there since the early
1970s, and his JI played an important role in the
Ayatollah Khomeini-led Islamic revolution that swept the
Shah out of power in 1979. Prior to the revolution, and
while Khomeini was in exile in Paris, Qazi Hussain Ahmed
was instrumental in having his tapes and literature
smuggled into Iran to stir the masses.
It is
believed that the Iranian ambassador in Pakistan was the
first person to ring Qazi Hussain Ahmed and congratulate
him on his success in the polls, and convey an
invitation from President Khatami for a visit Tehran,
which was accepted. This special relationship will
undoubtedly have an effect on Pakistan's ties, which are
strained at present due to Islamabad's pro-US policies.
As far as Iraq is concerned, Saddam Hussein has
traditionally focused his attention on the "nuisance"
groups within Pakistan, rather than deal with the
government itself. Maulana Samiul Haq and Maulana
Fazalur Rehman, the leaders of their own factions in the
Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam and members of the MMA, have very
special relations with Iraq. Both have on may occasions
been official guests of the Iraqi government. And
Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani also has close relations with
Saddam. These men are reported to already have had
private meetings with the Iraq ambassador to Pakistan.
Further, the Iraqi government has contributed generously
to many of the Islamic seminaries operated by these
Pakistani religious leaders. Recently, at a graduation
ceremony at Daralulom Akora Khatack (where Taliban
leader Mullah Omar received his education), the Iraq
ambassador was the chief guest.
These factors
guarantee that should such people as Haq, Rehman and
Qazi Hussain Ahmed form a part of the new government,
and even if they don't, for that matter, there will be
intense pressure for a reappraisal in Islamabad's ties
with Tehran and Iraq. And just as important, there could
be an impact on the situation of Indian-held Kashmir,
with the MMA applying pressure for renewed support for
the militants active in the troubled territory.
Of one thing the country can be sure, a new era
in politics has dawned.
(©2002 Asia Times Online
Co, Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com
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