PESHAWAR: Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) miserably failed to conduct the 2018 general elections in a free, fair and impartial manner and demanded that Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and his team admit their failure and step down without delay.

Speaking at a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Thursday, the JUI-F chief described Prime Minister Imran Khan and chief ministers of all the provinces as fake and alleged that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) was part of a conspiracy to enforce policies of anti-Islam and anti-Pakistan forces.

He said the PTI had come to power to implement a foreign agenda in the country which was proved when an Ahmadi economist was appointed as a member of the country’s economic council to repeat the situation of 1953 in Pakistan.

“Mian Atif has been made a member of the Economic Advisory Council. We will not allow promotion of any Ahmadi agenda in the country,” he said.

Warns of protest if curriculum of seminaries is changed

The MMA chief warned that his party with other like-minded parties would soon launch a nationwide campaign to create awareness among the masses against what he called ‘designs’ of the government.

He said that it was the right of the opposition to raise voice against “wrong policies” and to prepare the masses for protest if real issues of the people were not addressed.

The JUI-F chief said that the rulers had no ability to run internal and foreign affairs through diplomatic channels and demanded re-election in the country.

He also urged other political parties to join hands with him in the campaign against the government as the PTI government had come through ‘engineered’ elections with the support of the establishment.

He said that the government had been handed over to an ineligible lot which did not know how to talk to foreign delegates. The country needed to be saved now.

“We are ready to sacrifice everything for national freedom,” he said.

The MMA chief claimed that all political parties had rejected the election results unanimously owing to what he called massive rigging in the polls.

Referring to internal and external challenges, he said that the PTI government was unable to defend the country.

“The country’s armed forces are fully capable of defending the motherland. We pay tribute to the armed forces. The nation stands united with them,” he said.

Talking about the PTI government’s decision to introduce a uniform education system in religious seminaries, the MMA chief warned the government against any interference in the affairs of the seminaries.

“We will not tolerate any interference in the religious curriculum. If anything like that happened, we will stage a strong protest against it.”

JUI-F provincial chief Maulana Gul Naseeb Khan, former minister Maulana Amanullah Haqqani and other leaders also attended the press conference.

Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2018