MARDAN: JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Friday claimed the military establishment and bureaucracy were big hurdles to the enforcement of Islamic laws in the country.

He was addressing a public meeting held in connection with the Mufti Mehmood Conference here at the Railway Station Ground.

Federal minister Akram Khan Durrani, Senate deputy chairman Abdul Ghafoor Haideri and other JUI-F leaders including Jalil Jan, Maulana Amanat Shan, Maulana Qasim and Maulana Shujul Mulk were also present on the occasion.

The JUI-F chief said his party’s founder, Maulana Mufti Mehmood, had created awareness among people of their rights.

He said the development, prosperity and survival of Pakistan was linked to the enforcement of Islamic laws.

Mr. Fazl said the country would have peace and development only if the Constitution conformed to the teachings of Islam. He said it was unfortunate that the country was run in line with the instructions of non-Muslim world powers, but the followers of Mufti Mehmood would continue resisting all such moves.

The JUI-F chief urged the federal government to hold referendum in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas on the future of their region.

He complained that the federal government had formed a committee led by Sartaj Aziz to suggest reforms in tribal region, instead of holding consultations at provincial level and with Fata representatives.

“The government should not only take up the issue of Fata reforms seriously but also include the real representative of people of the tribal areas to bring genuine reforms to the system or merge it with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” he said.

Mr. Fazl claimed the government was destroying seminaries in Fata by bombardments before establishing vocational centres there.

“We’ll not accept such tactics of the government and will offer resistance,” he said. The JUI-F chief said his party would protect seminaries as they were the places from where Islam’s teachings were spread.

He suggested that the government build schools, colleges and universities on places other than seminaries and if that happened, the JUI-F won’t oppose it.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2016