MULTAN: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman says that a multi-party conference will be held in the last week of June and consultation sessions with political parties regarding the conference would begin from June 15.

He told reporters on Tuesday said his party’s Markazi Majlis-i-Shoora would meet in Islamabad on June 19 and million marches by his party would be held in Quetta on July 15 and in Peshawar on July 21 while a final destination would be Islamabad.

He said the arrests of opposition parties’ leaders were making the task of the opposition easier.

He said the government had presented a flop budget and the arrest of former president Asif Ali Zardari and Hamza Shahbaz was an attempt to divert attention of the masses. He said the arrests would never discourage the politicians as the arrests were the part of politics.

“People are saying the government is collapsing but I would say that the state is collapsing. We all have to protect the state. State institutions should realize that supporting such an unpopular government is not in the favor of the country. Whatever we are purposing is in the favor of the state. Enough is enough. The narrative which had been sold out in the name of war on terror in last 18 years should be discouraged now as terrorism has been created and these things weaken the countries,” he said.

He said that usage of power has never been a solution to problems.

“Power was used against the Taliban but they are still flourishing in tribal areas. Despite the claims that peace has been restored, there is no peace. It means the claims are fake and the ground realities are different. There is need to introduce new narrative. We have to focus on our economy and prepare new economic action plan. The country would not move forward until we get rid of the National Action Plan which was introduced to target religious forces,” he said. He said that to strengthen the system, a true democratic government should be formed as the country could not be run through such a fake government.

He said that the Imran Khan government was a proven incompetent government and it may cause more damage to the country if it was allowed to remain in power.

He said that so far his party had held 13 million marches.

“We are already on the streets,” he added. He said that lawyers should contact politicians on the issue of a reference against Justice Qazi Faez Isa, field by the government.

Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2019