Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Saturday said that the writ of the incumbent government has ended and vowed to topple the ruling regime and run the country.
Addressing the participants of the Islamabad sit-in, he said, “We will provide satisfaction and protection to the country.” The JUI-F chief asked the ruling regime to “step down” saying don’t test “our patience”.
“We will remain in the arena untill we get rid of the government.”
Fazl said that his party was functioning as per the earlier agreement with the government, however, the Islamabad administration took certain steps which nullified the pact. The Maulana said that his party ‘will run the country by remaining peaceful’.
Fazlur Rehman hinted at taking “hard decision” in the next two days to “maintain the flow of the anti-government movement”.
“Our history is full of movements […] We have to take a decision by tomorrow or the day after tomorrow,” he said, adding that he will be evaluating options to “shift from this ground to a more effective ground”.
He said, “We don’t want to worsen the situation. Fifteen million marches in nine months are enough for the evidence that how organised we have been and how [the participants of the marches] maintained the law and order situation.”
Maulana Fazl began addressing the participants of the march, saying that women are very much part of the march as no one has pushed them aside. “Women are part of this protest, sitting at home and doing Zikar and prayers,” he said, adding that from overall the situation it can be imagined how much hatred prevails against the incumbent government.
Fazlur Rehman said that delegations of Afghan Taliban are officially welcomed in Islamabad by the PTI government, therefore, criticising presence of a few such flags is baseless and an attempt to malign the Azadi March.
“With presidential protocol, the United States engaged with Afghan Taliban in peace talks… and with the same protocol they were welcomed in Moscow as well. And you ask us why a boy carried their flag in our rally,” he said. Maulana Fazl said the government of Prime Minister
Imran Khan has lost moral grounds to rule the country and slammed it for ‘hatching controversies’ against his “peaceful march”.
Not just the Indian but the entire international media is covering the Azadi March, said the firebrand cleric referring to PM Imran’s criticism over his protest’s coverage on Indian channels.
Fazl also said that they are being wrongly accused over a low turnout of women in the protest demonstration. “We respect women more than you can ever imagine to do so,” he remarked, adding that women members of the party are playing their part to make this protest a success.
Meanwhile, addressing a news conference flanked by other members of the Rahbar committee, JUI-F’s Akram Durrani said that recommendations including en bloc resignations and countrywide shutter-down strike were currently under consideration.
The press conference came after a high-level meeting of the Rahbar Committee in which members of the PPP, the PML-N, the JUI-F and the ANP participated.
Akram Durrani, said, “We don’t refuse to engage in talks but the government’s attitude is not appropriate”.
Besides resignations from the parliament and strike, blocking highways and locking down the whole country at the district level and all other options necessary for any movement are also being considered, said Durrani. “We have signed an agreement with DC Islamabad and stand by it.” He said that any irresponsible action by non-democratic forces would be against the national interest. “All opposition parties are unanimous on this point and oppose it,” he added.
Speaking on the occasion, PML-N’s Ahsan Iqbal said he was shocked to know that Prime Minister Imran Khan had waived off the mandatory requirement of passport for the visiting Sikh pilgrims from India.
“We welcome Sikh pilgrims, who are set to visit the country for Baba Guru Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary next week, but how can an Indian citizen cross an international border and enter the Pakistani territory without the basic document… it means you are changing the status of that territory,” he added.
“This government has turned Pakistan into a laughing stock with blunders such as this.”
Opposition’s Rahbar Committee stated that the committee still stands by its demand of PM Imran’s resignation and holding new elections. Akram Durrani said that the committee pondered over the issue of future strategy and demand for PM Imran’s resignation in the meeting.
Durrani reacted to the earlier statements by Prime Minister Imran and Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak in which the two criticised Maulana Fazl for asking the prime minister to resign.
