PESHAWAR, April 22: As elections are less than three weeks away, religious parties, which had swept the 2002 polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal platform, are in disarray due to internal rifts, which may benefit other political groups.

MMA, which comprised Jamaat-i-Islami, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam factions of Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Maulana Samiul Haq, Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan-Noorani, Jamaat Ahle Hadith of Sajid Mir and Tehrik-i-Islami of Allama Sajid Naqvi, had secured 59 of the total 99 general seats of the provincial assembly in 2002.

It bagged a total of 3,181,483 votes in the 2002 elections. In the 2008 elections, JUI-F used the MMA symbol ‘book’ but suffered major defeat.

The lame duck MMA secured only 11 seats in the provincial assembly, while JI boycotted polls.

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had also lost election from NA-24, Dera Ismail Khan, his home constituency, with a big margin.

Despite exhaustive efforts and political maneuvering, Maulana Fazlur Rehman could not succeed in keeping MMA intact.

Big components of the defunct alliance, JUI-F and JI, are not only contesting the coming elections from their own platforms but also engaged in hot contest of allegations and counter allegations. Last week, JUI-F provincial media cell issued a statement in which JI was declared a ‘secular party.’

The statement alleged: “The party (JI) being run with dollars of Western NGOs is toeing the Western agenda. JI is promoting secular politics in the country.” Such statements were issued by the party in the past against liberal and secular parties like Pakistan People’s Party and Awami National Party. The harsh statement was issued in response to a JI leader’s allegation that JUI-F is “a party of property dealers.”

On the other hand, JI leaders accused JUI-F of sabotaging the MMA revival and creating hurdles to unification of religious and sectarian groups to contest elections under a joint symbol.

“JUI-F is no more a party of ulema and religious scholars. It has become a party of rich people because most of the tickets have been allotted to affluent people,” said JI provincial chief and former Senator Professor Ibrahim Khan. “Ask Maulana sahib (Maulana Fazlur Rehman) how many ulema he has issued tickets to,” he said.

Despite serious differences and splits, both the parties are hopeful that they will sweep the May 11 elections in the province and adjoining Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), which has a total of 12 seats in the National Assembly.

When contacted, Maulana Attaur Rehman, senior JUI-F vice president and younger brother of Maulana Fazlur Rehman, said situation was in favour of his party, which would benefit from the ‘no alliance’ among religious parties in the elections.He said most voters would favour JUI-F in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata. However, Professor Ibrahim of JI claimed that his party would attract silent voters this time around to form the next government in the province.

“I am sure silent voters will play a decisive role during the May 11 elections and give a clear-cut mandate to Jamaat (JI) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” he said.

Comparatively, JI suffered a setback after it failed to enter into electoral alliance or seat adjustment deal with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf.

It, however, made a seat adjustment deal with Muttahida Deeni Mahaz, a conglomerate of small religious and sectarian groups, and Ashat Touheed wa Sunnah in Peshawar, Swabi and some other districts.

On the other hand, JUI-F, too, has struck a seat adjustment deal with Qaumi Watan Party of Aftab Sherpao only and that, too, on a few seats of Swat and Peshawar Valley. That arrangement may not give boost to JUI-F vote bank.

In the current scenario, it is perceived that PTI will emerge a major political force in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after elections and will encroach upon silent voters, particularly youngsters.

Analysts say PTI can pose a serious threat to JUI-F, which eyes the next government in the violence-hit province. Dr Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy of University of Peshawar’s International Relations Department told Dawn that the two religious parties had separate vote bank in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and PTI could benefit from their differences.

“My assessment is that PTI popularity is high among youngsters and women. PTI may not affect JUI-F vote bank mostly comprising students of seminaries, but it will certainly attract JI voters,” he said.

“Even members of Islami Jamiat Talba, a student wing of JI, will give vote to PTI,” he said.

Dr Hussain said during the 2002 elections, MMA had capitalised on the situation that developed in the aftermath of the US attack on Afghanistan, but this time around, religious parties wouldn’t get a similar response.