ISLAMABAD: Former JUI-F leader Maulana Mohammad Sheerani Khan on Tuesday announced the formation of his own faction of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam to be called JUI-Pakistan and said the policy of the new party would be to isolate Maulana Fazlur Rehman through ‘power of truth’.

The expelled members of the JUI-F held a meeting at the residence of Maulana Sheerani in the Barakahu area of Islamabad along with their supporters. Hafiz Hussain Ahmed participated in the meeting via a video link as he was not allowed to board a flight in Quetta for not having an updated Covid-19 test result.

The meeting was attended by Maulana Shuja-ul-Mulk, Haji Abdul Sadiq Noor­zai, Maulana Nazar Mohammad Haqqani, Maulana Mahmood Al-Husseini, Qazi Ahmad Khosti, Maulana Ahmad Khan Sheerani, Hafiz Sirajuddin and others.

The participants alleged that Maulana Fazl had made the JUI his personal property and the party was being used as a platform for obtaining personal gains only.

Says policy of JUI-Pakistan will be to isolate Maulana Fazl through ‘power of truth’

Briefing the media after the meeting, Maulana Sheerani claimed that he and his group had never been part of the JUI-F, but Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam. He accused Maulana Fazl of breaking the party and forming his own faction of JUI. He said the new group had been formed to “end chaos in Jamiat”.

“We have decided not to respond emotionally to whatever is said about us; we will isolate them and they will be left alone; we are truthful people and believe in truth. If Maulana Fazlur Rehman group invites me to participate in any programme, I will participate,” Maulana Sheerani said and directed his followers to remain in contact with various institutions and establishments of the JUI-F such as seminaries, mosques, etc.

Maulana Sheerani said he would play his role in ending the anarchy within Jamiat, but added that none of his comrades would take any step against Quran and Sunnah. He said the party was originally JUI-Pakistan that he and all others had inherited. “Of all the comrades who played a role after Mufti Mahmood, only I am alive.”

Maulana Sheerani highlighted the new party’s future course of action and said he would personally travel around the country in connection with the membership drive. He said the future strategy of JUI-Pakistan had been decided under which no colleague would be forced to do any work and the basic policy would be to rely only on truth.

Maulana Sheerani, a former chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology, said he had a clean record and always believed in truth. He recalled that in 1994 he had opposed the opinion of several Arab and non-Arab scholars who supported the “policy of Jihad”.

“I called Kashmir Jihad a creating turmoil and did not believe in Afghan Jihad; I described sectarian organisations as mercenaries,” the Maulana said, adding: “I called the MMA ‘Mullah Military Alliance’ and even said that Azadi march of Maulana Fazlur Rehman would fail.”

In his video address from Quetta, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed said: “We have not left the party nor have we separated from the party; we are the real face of Jamiat.”

He said Maulana Fazl had used his influence to be declared as lifelong leader of the party. He also slammed PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif and said the latter was relaxing in London under the pretext of health needs, while Maulana Fazl was shying away from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

“Why the whole PDM (Pakistan Democratic Movement) is not willing to present itself before NAB? Why Nawaz Sharif cannot appear before NAB? If Maryam Nawaz and Ahsan Iqbal can appear before NAB then why can’t Maulana [Fazl] do so?” Hafiz Hussain asked.

Meanwhile, Information Minister Senator Shibli Faraz, while addressing a press conference in the evening, termed the formation of JUI-Pakistan a welcoming step in the political sphere as Maulana Sheerani had pointed out that the JUI-F chief was only exploiting the name of Islam for personal gains and uplift.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2020