PESHAWAR: Maulana Sami-ul-Haq, who supervises Darul Uloom Haqqania, a religious seminary, is annoyed with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party after losing the last Senate election, his brother, Anwar-ul-Haq, told Arab News on Sunday.
Sami-ul-Haq’s Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-S) party has largely remained on good terms with PTI, creating an impression that the two political factions were willing to devise a seat adjustment mechanism ahead of the next general elections. However, despite receiving significant funds from the PTI administration in the name of mainstreaming religious seminaries in the province, members of JUI-S, including Maulana Sami-ul-Haq’s close relatives, say the alliance between the two parties could possibly be crumbling.
“We had an agreement on certain constituencies where we wanted to field JUI-S candidates. However, it seems that PTI is trying to grab those constituencies from us as well,” Sami-ul-Haq’s son, Hamid-ul-Haq, told Arab News.
“Our party has an option of joining Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal,” he added. “We can also side with Muttahida Deeni Mahaz (another alliance of religious parties). However, it will be our party Shoura that will determine our future course of action within the next ten days.”
Meanwhile, Maulana Sami-ul-Haq is recovering from heart surgery he recently underwent in Rawalpindi.
Asked if it was possible for JUI-S to leave PTI after getting significant funds from the latter, Hamid-ul-Haq said: “Fund release for madrassa (seminary) is a service to local people. My grandfather served this area. My father was a senator in the past, and a previous Pakistan Peoples Party-led government had also released funds for our seminary. No one should make an issue out of this.”
Sami-ul-Haq’s brother, Anwar-ul-Haq, also claimed that the alliance between the two parties was undergoing a rough patch. “Maulana Sahib (Sami-ul-Haq) was deeply hurt when he lost,” he said.
JUI-S spokesperson Maulana Yousaf Shah admitted that Sami-ul-Haq was not happy with the result of the Senate election and claimed: “It happened because lawmakers sold their votes in the Senate polls.”
Jamaat-e-Islami’s General Secretary in KP, Abdul Wasi, said the MMA would welcome Maulana Sami-ul-Haq in its fold if he decided to return to the religious alliance. “Our top leader, Siraj-ul-Haq, may soon visit Maulana Sami-ul-Haq to convince him to rejoin MMA,” he added.
MMA currently comprises five parties: Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam-Fazl, Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan-Noorani, Jamaat-e-Islami, Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith and Tehreek-e-Fiqh-e-Jafaria.
PTI’s provincial assembly member, Qurban Ali Khan, admitted that there were issues between his party and JUI-S.
“It will create problems (for PTI) if Maulana Sami-ul-Haq rejoined MMA or parted way with PTI,” he admitted.
Prof. Dr. Zahid Anwar from the department of political science at the University of Peshawar, told Arab News that the MMA would try to convince Maulana Sami-ul-Haq to return to the alliance.
“Politics is the name of give and take,” he added. “If PTI wishes to be a JUI-S ally, it should compromise on some issues. Otherwise, it is likely that JUI-S will either join MMA or at least abandon PTI.”
He also said that PTI had a good vote bank, but the departure of JUI-S could negatively affect its performance in the coming elections.
Sami-ul-Haq’s party weighs MMA option as its alliance with PTI comes under pressure
Sami-ul-Haq’s party weighs MMA option as its alliance with PTI comes under pressure
Four people, including two policemen, killed in twin blasts in northwest Pakistan
- Attack on police van in South Waziristan and motorbike-mounted IED in Lakki Marwat hits KP province
- Violence comes amid a surge in militancy and cross-border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD: At least four people, including two policemen, were killed and about 20 others wounded in two separate blasts in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Saturday, officials said, the latest violence in a region grappling with militant violence.
One explosion targeted a police patrol van in Wana, the main town of South Waziristan district near the Afghan border, while another blast caused by explosives mounted on a motorbike struck a market area in Lakki Marwat district, according to police officials and preliminary reports.
The incidents come amid rising militant violence in Pakistan’s northwest, where authorities say armed groups operate from across the border in Afghanistan, straining relations between Islamabad and the Taliban administration in Kabul, with both sides engaged in a military conflict since last month.
“The control room received information in the evening about a bomb blast targeting a police van in Wana Bazaar,” a police official in the area, who did not want to be named, confirmed while speaking to Arab News over the phone.
He confirmed two deaths in the incident while saying more than 25 people had been injured.
The official said rescue teams responded promptly and shifted three seriously injured people to a nearby hospital in Wana.
In another incident during the day in Lakki Marwat, an improvised explosive device attached to a motorbike exploded near shops.
“Two people have been killed and about 10 have been injured in an IED blast in Lakki Marwat,” Raza Khan, Deputy Superintendent of Police in Bannu, told Arab News.
“The deceased are identified as Shoaib Ur Rehman and Furqan Ullah,” he added. “Shoaib, the owner of the shop, was the brother of the Lakki peace committee head.”
Peace committees in the region are informal, community-based groups that work with security forces to report militant activity and maintain order, making their members frequent targets of attacks.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attacks and expressed grief over the incidents.
“I strongly condemn the blast near a police patrolling vehicle in Wana Bazaar,” Naqvi said in a statement, confirming the killing of four people, including two police personnel.
“Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police are on the front line in the war against terrorism,” he said, noting the force had made “unforgettable sacrifices” in the fight against militant groups.
Militant violence has surged in Pakistan’s border regions in recent months, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces.
Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban government of allowing militant groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), to operate from Afghan territory — a charge Kabul denies — as cross-border tensions between the two neighbors have escalated.
