Says war against govt will only end with its fall
Tariq Saeed
Peshawar
Announcing to continue with his “Azadi march plan” at all costs the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F chief Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman Saturday warned of the dire consequences in case of his arrest or any other move by the administration to hamper their movement towards Islamabad on October 27.
“If we are stopped the whole country will turn into a battlefield and countrywide protests will be started against the incumbent government: I am not afraid of arrest as all my attention is focused on overthrowing the incompetent government,” he told media.
Announcing that the first destination of Azadi March will be Islamabad, the JUI chief claimed that the masses in huge numbers will sweep away the Pakistan-Tehreek-e-Insaaf-led government and added he will use plan B and C if needed. “The existing parliament should be dissolved and new elections be held in Pakistan to assuage the concerns of his party,” remarked the Maulana who failed to make it to the parliament in 2018 general elections.
He said the country’s economy has been destroyed and employment opportunities have been brought to an end. We will become the voice of a common man and Pakistan. “Our demand will be to conduct fresh elections. Business community is already protesting owing to taxes and time has come to send the ineligible and illegitimate government packing.
The JUI-F chief termed his upcoming Azadi March as a ‘fight to the finish’ which he said would only end when the government falls. “Our strategy will not remain stagnant. We will keep changing it to cope with any situation”. Fazal said claiming that a flood of people from all over the country was coming to join the march.
When asked as the major opposition parties have ditched him and not actively participating in his proposed march, he said since all opposition parties agreed that last year’s general elections were “fake” and that a reelection should be held, they should all be “on the same page and same stage”.
Irked by the query that his party was collecting donations for its march Maulana remarked “Why wouldn’t we? It is our right; where else will we get money from? Why is there so much noise over this? He claimed his party was not being funded by any foreign country.
In response to a question about the government’s claim that the JUI-F chief was “using” children studying in seminaries against the government Maulana Fazal came up with the reply that it was the democratic right of the Madrassa students to participate in the march and the government could not deny that right.
Agencies add: Fazl said, “The entire country is going through an economic crisis and unemployment has skyrocketed.” He further urged the “establishment, bureaucracy and police to not back the illegitimate government” and added that he does not want to clash with state institutions. “Our strategy will not remain stagnant. We will keep changing it to cope with [any] situation,” he said.
