A too-early to a brand-new organisation's electoral campaign would raise some eyebrows, particularly if the latest outfit is yet another Muslim League - "Milli Muslim League" in this case. But the MML, launched at a press conference in Islamabad last Monday, is bound to create unease. The man to lead the new party is Saifullah Khalid, a member of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa's central leadership, who tried hard to dismiss the impression that his outfit had anything to do with JUD. That organisation is "under observation" on the list of terrorist organisations in Pakistan and whose top leader, Hafiz Saeed, is under house arrest. It is no secret that the JUD was the reincarnation of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which was accused of launching the Mumbai carnage. Saifullah Khalid won't reject outright rumours that it is Hafiz Saeed whose brainchild the MML is, but does concede that once the Maulana is released, the new outfit would seek his guidance in critical matters. Knowing full well that the people of Pakistan are fed up with parties and groups nurturing extremist religious mindsets, Saifullah Khalid defines his party's manifesto as a reflection of the 1973 Constitution - that is, to establish an Islamic republic in Pakistan, an apparent divergence from his previous outfit which rejected democracy and worked for an Islamic emirate. The MML has applied for registration with the Election Commission of Pakistan. But the problem with that may be that not only could it be unable to hide away its roots in the JUD and LeT, but also that its leadership is under the UN and the US sanctions. A clean break from the MML's inheritance was not the Saifullah Khalid's intention, nor did he promise anything of that sort.

To form a political party and take part in elections is the fundamental right of every group of persons in Pakistan. There are scores of political parties that are registered with the Election Commission, so there should be no problem as such with the MML. It gets a clean chit after the required scrutiny by the commission. However, that is a development to watch and see. If the MML jettisons its baggage that is also a challenge for its leadership. But will democracy in Pakistan gain vitality as some believe? Not only in Pakistan but also on the global spectrum we see that in terms of the number of political groups and parties participating in elections the more the merrier attitude is a risky proposition. One high-visibility aspect of durable, stable democracies is fewer political parties. The democracy in the United States has endured many challenges over the past two centuries and more only because it is essentially a two-party system. If Pakistan seems to be becoming a stable democracy, it is because of the decreasing number of parties in parliament. If Saifullah Khalid's MML is to live and die by the ideology of Pakistan, as enshrined in the Constitution, it may like to join any of the two other mainstream religious parties, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) and Jamaat-e-Islami. That it is some kind of attempt on the part of the JUD leadership to move away from its contentious past, which not only painted it into the corner in Pakistan but also earned international rebuke for the country, there is no clue. But the attempted launch of this outfit is by and large is stillborn.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017