ISLAMABAD, October 16 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Pakistan’s newly powerful Islamic parties’ alliance will demand that pro-Taliban scholar Maulana Fazlur Rehman be made prime minister if they enter into a coalition to form government, an alliance leader said Tuesday, October 15.

“If the MMA decides to join the government, then our prime minister will be Maulana Fazlur Rehman and we will support him,” said Qazi Hussein Ahmed, vice president of the Muttahidda Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Ahmed, who heads the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), one of six parties in the MMA, made the comment after talks with a leader of the pro-government Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q).

The PML-Q has been seeking to coax the MMA into a coalition to capture the majority needed to form government.

PML-Q executive Chaudry Shujaat Hussain met Ahmed at his residence ahead of an all-important meeting of MMA leaders to debate coalition options.

“We will chalk out our plans to form government at the MMA meeting and we will announce our decision after this meeting,” Hussain told reporters at his residence.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman heads the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam party, known for its close ties to Afghanistan’s ousted Taliban regime.

However, speaking to IslamOnline, Musbahullah Abdul Baqi, a political analyst in Afghanistan said that he has doubts that reports of Fazlur Rehman's nomination for Prime Minister is true.

He said that the number of chairs which the Islamic coalition has does not qualify them to nominate someone for the Prime Minister position. "I expect that they will instead be on the oppositions' seats in the national council," he said.

He added however, that while Fazlur Rehman was pro-Taliban, he was also active during Benazir Bhutto's government, and that he is not an "extremist" but is flexible and is open to the requirements of the time. "He is what you would call a 'traditional' scholar who understand the requirements of the time we live in," he said.

The MMA’s unprecedented gains in last week’s general elections landed them the balance of power in the national assembly with 45 of its 272 general seats.

The two biggest winners, the PML-Q and the Pakistan People's Party of banned ex-premier Benazir Bhutto, with 77 and 63 seats respectively, have been intensively wooing the MMA to form a coalition government.

On Monday, October 14, the Pakistani capital was buzzing with a feverish political activity after a break of three years, where elected leaders of different groups and factions were seen wooing each other for the formation of a political government to see-off three years old military rule, following general elections on October 10.

Center of activity was the residence of Qazi Hussain Ahmed who was called upon by leaders of the different political groups, trying to strike a deal with Qazi’s religious alliance which holds the balance of power in a hung parliament with no party having majority to form a government.

Different alliances are being discussed at various places but the most favorite combination appeared to be the one between the largest party Pakistan Muslim League (Q) and MMAP with other groups like the National Alliance, Mutahidda Qaumi Movement and independents joining in.

But well placed government sources suggested that president Pervez Musharraf has indicated to the leaders of the elected groups his wish for a national government.

Musharraf, who is in Istanbul attending an ECO conference, spoke to the leaders of MMAP, PML(Q), PPPP, MQM, NA and others on the phone, primarily to congratulate them over their election victory.

But the sources told IslamOnline that President also conveyed his desire of a national government to these leaders who promised to discuss this issue at their respective party platforms.

MMAP is having its crucial meeting here on the 16th whereas PPPP would meet on 19 of this month to discuss the post electoral situation. PML (Q) is also expected to take crucial decision in a meeting this week.

Earlier, on Sunday, Pakistan dismissed as “untrue” E.U. charges that the voting process in the elections was flawed, as an anti-U.S. Islamic alliance loomed large over a new hung parliament.

Accusations that authorities interfered with the electoral process were “indeed unfortunate. This is just not true,” AFP quoted a statement released late Saturday October 12 by the Ministry of Information as saying.

A preliminary report by the 88-strong European Union observer team said Saturday the interference resulted in “serious flaws” in Pakistan’s first general elections since Musharraf seized power in a coup in 1999.

“There was no such policy or plan,” the government statement said.

The head of the E.U. observer mission John Cushnahan charged that candidates had unequal access to state media, that a government ban on political rallies curbed freedoms, and called the Election Commission's impartiality into question.