PESHAWAR: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has downplayed Prime Minister Imran Khan’s statement that the government is in talks with some groups of banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

“In fact someone else is negotiating with these groups and the government is trying just to take the credit,” he replied when a reporter asked his opinion about talks between the government and banned outfits. “The government is not part of the process,” he added.

The JUI-F chief was speaking at a ceremony here on Monday. On this occasion, Pakistan Peoples Party former MPA from Bannu Adnan Khan Wazir and a leader of Quami Watan Party along with their supporters joined JUI-F. Opposition leader in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Akram Khan Durrani was also present on the occasion.

PPP and QWP leaders join JUI-F

Prime Minister Imran Khan during an interview with TRT World last week had said that the government was in talks with some groups of the banned TTP, seeking reconciliation. Banned TTP had already denied reports about talks with the government.

Speaking at the joining ceremony, Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that “Pandora Papers” had exposed members of the federal cabinet, retired generals, bureaucrats and others. He said that there were more than 400 influential Pakistanis in the Panama Leaks, but only former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was targeted.

“The Pandora Papers has exposed Imran’s kitchen cabinet,” he remarked, adding that more thieves were found in the government’s camp, which raised slogans against so-called thieves. He said that such scandals were used to defame politicians.

He added that National Accountability Bureau also applied such tactics against him (Maulana Rehman) by serving notices.

“NAB tried to blackmail me, but we irritably declined to respond to these notices,” he said, adding that a gang of corrupt people had no right to hold accountability of others.

About the government plan regarding electoral reforms, Mr Rehman said that Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) was unacceptable in the next elections.

He said that Election Commission of Pakistan did not accept EVM and raised 37 reservations over it. He said that voting machines had been banned in Germany.

He said that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf had misguided youth in the previous general elections though hollow slogans and now oversees Pakistanis would be deviated by giving them the right of vote.

He said that the government had planned to rig the next elections through use of EVMs and giving right of vote to oversees Pakistanis.

The JUI-F chief said that establishment should not support the “fake government.” He said that state institutions were destroying their image by extending support to the ‘selected’ prime minister.

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2021