PESHAWAR: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has claimed that a government’s delegation met him in Islamabad on Monday seeking NRO for Prime Minister Imran Khan and Senate chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, but he turned down the request.

“Your (Imran) people met me and were seeking NRO for the Senate chairman and prime minister, but I refused,” he told a mammoth Tahafuz Namoos-i-Risalat Million March here on Tuesday evening.

The JUI-F leader was referring to his meeting with Leader of the House in Senate Shibli Faraz and Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal, who called on him in the federal capital on Monday and requested him to withdraw a resolution against Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani.

“Your (Imran) people sought NRO for you and Senate chairman, but I told the delegation that Fazlur Rehman will neither give NRO to Imran nor Sanjrani,” he said, adding that he would not disclose the name of the people, who met him.

Says country’s existence at stake under PTI govt

Pakistan Peoples Party leader Qayyum Soomro and senior leader of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal Anas Noorani were also present on the stage.

The JUI-F chief came down hard on the PTI government and said the very survival of the country was at stake under it.

He said under the present government, the concept of the rule of law, transparency and justice had been completely eroded, while the law was being used against the opposition parties in the guise of accountability.

Mr Fazl said the mammoth gathering was a testimony to the fact that the people were not ready to compromise their sovereignty, honour of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), and ideology of Pakistan.

Commenting over the prime minister’s visit to the US, he said Imran Khan was not given protocol in Washington, while Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa was warmly received and accorded the guard of honour.

The JUI-F leader said US President Donald Trump had also endorsed that Imran Khan was a ‘selected and puppet’ prime minister, and that he did not gave him protocol.

He criticised the premier’s speech in Washington saying the language which Imran used in the country was used against opposition there as well.

Mr Fazl said in his speeches Mr Imran’s rhetoric to recover billion of rupees had boiled down to the removal of air conditioners and television sets from the cells of the opposition leaders and that he was forced to mourn the premier’s vision.

Referring to the premier’s remarks about the release of Aasia Bibi, he accused Mr Imran of going against the Constitution.

“Your claims that minorities are not safe in Pakistan just showed the people of this country as accused,” he said, adding that premier was ignorant about diplomatic norms and values.

The JUI-F chief said the prime minister had given statements against the country during his visit to Iran.

He said Jewish lobby and a religious minority had organised the prime minister’s visit to the US.

Mr Fazl alleged that instead of protecting national interests, the premier fought the case of Ahmadis in Washington.

He criticised the Mr Imran for claiming that the ISI had provided the US with clue regarding the presence of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad.

The JUI-F chief asked the establishment to stop backing an illegitimate government.

“Backing of an illegitimate government is not acceptable at all,” he said.

Mr Fazl said July 25 was a black day when the people’s mandate was stolen and they were not ready accepted this government.

He said the PTI government had nearly destroyed the country’s economy, which was the bedrock of the modern state.

The JUI-F leader said for the first time in the country’s history, traders all over the country observed a shutter down strike barely a month after the passage of the federal budget, which was unprecedented.

He said the strike was the complete rejection of the government’s economic policies.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2019