QUETTA: Secretary General of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) Abdul Ghafoor Haidari has said that the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan will succeed even if the government allies do not support it.

Speaking at a news conference at Quetta Press Club on Sunday, he claimed that the opposition was enjoying the support of more members of the National Assembly than required for the success of the no-trust motion. He said the opposition had been in touch with the government allies and received a positive response.

He said that due to arrogant attitude and bad conduct of Imran Khan every political party wanted to get rid of his government.

Senator Haidari said the use of insulting and obnoxious language against political opponents did not suit a prime minister, but Imran Khan was continuously using such language.

He said Imran Khan’s opponents could also respond in the same way but they believed in decency in politics and “our leadership never trained us to speak in such a way against anyone”.

He rejected Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid’s allegation that the opposition was spending billions of rupees on purchasing loyalty of the legislators for supporting the no-trust motion. He said he never took a selfie with Sheikh Rashid at an airport.

Maulana Haidari said wrong policies of the government brought the country’s economy to the brink of disaster causing the worst-ever price hike that had broken the backbone of the common man.

He said Imran Khan had failed to fulfil the promises he had made during his election campaign, including providing 10 million jobs and 5m houses to the people.

He said when Imran Khan had staged a sit-in, only a few thousand people were with him, but millions of people participated in JUI-F’s million march.

The JUI-F secretary general said the rulers wanted to create unrest in the country by using foul language against their opponents. “Imran Khan went to Saudi Arabia to ask for Zakat money. Can any big state like Pakistan be run on Zakat money?” he asked.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2022