KARACHI: Religio-political parties on Wednesday made a formal announcement for the restoration of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), which they said would contest the next general elections under one symbol.

The decision to restore the MMA was made a month ago, which was endorsed today at a meeting of heads of various religious parties held at the residence of late founder of the coalition, Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani.

Wednesday?s meeting was attended by Maulana Awais Noorani, Maulana Fazlur Rahman, Sirajul Haq and others.

Following the meeting, Maulana Awais Noorani made the announcement regarding the MMA's restoration. He said that the names of the coalition officials would be announced within a month.

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) emir Sirajul Haq said they are uniting individuals and parties on the MMA's platform, in order to resolve public issues.

It has been learnt that all the coalition parties would contest the next general elections in the country under the symbol of 'book', for which they would also kick off a mass mobilisation drive in the beginning of 2018.

The newly-restored coalition includes all the parties which had previously been part of it, except for Maulana Sami-ul-Haq-led Jamiat Ulema Islam-Sami (JUI-S).

FATA merger

However, the meeting could not reach a consensus with regard to the merger of the country's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

Two major parties of the coalition, Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), have differences over FATA. The JI has recently held a long march seeking FATA's merger with KP, while the JUI-F is in favour of designating FATA as a separate province.

Noorani said the matter would be looked into the next meeting of coalition parties.

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman said the MMA has carved out a roadmap pertaining to the merger and would advance accordingly.