ISLAMABAD, 9 September 2007 — Is Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf running with the hares and hunting with the hounds? It would seem so, given his reported offer to a key opposition leader to become prime minister in return for supporting the general’s re-election bid.

The man at the center of this “deal” is Maulana Fazlur Rahman, the secretary- general of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) that heads the opposition six-party Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) religious alliance.

The JUI central executive met over the weekend to consider the “offer.”

“The committee may empower Rahman, who chaired the meeting, to take any step which enhanced his chances of entering the power corridors,” Dawn reported yesterday.

According to the newspaper, Rahman “had admitted in recent interviews that he was offered the office of prime minister by Pakistan Muslim League-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain in return for supporting Gen. Pervez Musharraf for his re-election as president.

“It is claimed that the Maulana had assured Shujaat to come back with a response after consulting his party’s executive committee,” Dawn said. Should the deal come through, it will only prove what has been suspected for the last five years — that there is a tacit understanding between Musharraf and the MMA, which is often derisively referred to as the Mullah-Military Alliance.

It would also put paid to Musharraf’s claims of being an “enlightened moderate” since the MMA wears its fundamentalism on its sleeve. In fact, it has even introduced the Shariah form of governance in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) where it is in power.

Analysts here say Musharraf opened the door to the MMA after talks with former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on a power sharing arrangement on her return home from exile hit a roadblock.

Benazir was insistent that Musharraf shed his army uniform before running for a second term — something he was loath to do.

Then, Musharraf also has to contend with the planned return tomorrow of another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, who has been in exile since the general ousted him in a military coup in October 1999.

In these circumstances, Musharraf has little option but to walk the tightrope, analysts here say.