PESHAWAR: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Saturday urged state institutions to stop supporting the government, which he termed “fake and illegitimate”.

“We respect our institutions and the establishment including the bureaucracy and police should not support this fake government,” he said at a press conference at his party’s secretariat here.

“We do not want to clash with the institutions. But if the institutions choose to resort to confrontation with the people, who will be at fault?”

When a reporter sought his comments about Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa’s recent meeting with representatives of the business community, the JUI-F emir said: “I wonder why institutions make attempts to garner support of the business community (on behalf of) the government whose economic policies have failed badly.”

The Maulana expressed his determination to organise his party’s “Azadi March” on Oct 27 and said that under its banner over one million people would march on Islamabad.

Says only government’s resignation before Oct 27 can stop ‘Azadi March’

“A sea of people will converge on the capital and they will (only) disperse when the government resigns,” he said, adding that he and his colleagues did not care for arrests or other coercive tactics that could be employed by the government.

“The entire country will be turned into a warzone and nobody will be able to control the workers if we are detained,” he warned and said his party had worked out alternative plans that would be enforced in case the government resorted to use of force.

Demanding fresh elections, the JUI-F chief said that only the resignation of the government before Oct 27 could stop the “Azadi March”.

In response to a question, he said that Pakistan Peoples Party’s co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari had extended full support to the proposed “march” and his party (the JUI-F) was in contact with other parties on the matter.

He said that because all the opposition parties had rejected results of the July 25 general elections and called for fresh polls, they were on the same page and would take part in the protest.

There was no comparison between the proposed march and the sits-in previously held in Islamabad, he said.

Answering a question, he denied that a friendly country had approached him to cancel the “Azadi March”.

Criticising the government’s policies, the Maulana said the economy was facing stagnation and millions of people had been deprived of jobs.

He was of the opinion that the government had failed on the diplomatic front and lost the case of Kashmir at key international forums.

He accused Prime Minister Imran Khan of striking a deal on Kashmir during his recent visit to the US.

Maulana Rehman brushed aside the government’s claims that he was using seminary students to achieve his political goals. He said the government should not deny any citizen his/her democratic right to organise or take part in peaceful protests.

The JUI-F emir clarified that in the proposed protest the participation of madressah students would be minimal and said the government’s “madressah card” had failed.

He was of the view that because the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) had allowed even infants to attend its past protests in Islamabad, it should not object to the participation of students in the upcoming march.

In response to a question, he admitted that his party was collecting donations from its workers and there was no harm in doing so.

He alleged that the PTI was receiving funds and donations from Jews and “its masters” in the West. He criticised Prime Minister Khan for meeting “notorious” Jewish philanthropist George Soros in New York.

He added that the government was trying to make Pakistan’s educational system subservient to the West.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2019