PESHAWAR: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Saturday said that his party would resist any attempt of keeping it out of politics.

Addressing Mufti Mehmood Conference in provincial capital, he said that they wanted to proceed towards elections and strengthen democracy in the country. Without naming anyone, he said warned those, who were trying to “fraudulently keep them out of parliament.”

“Today I am making this announcement that if you do not allow us inside the parliament, we will not allow you to come out of parliament,” he said.

The JUI-F chief said that his party always stood for politics of reason and dialogue; however, it would not succumb to any excess. He said that they wanted Pakistan to progress and did not want to create political instability in the country, leading to scaring of investors and capital flight.

Hamas leader Khalid Mashal also addresses JUI-F conference from Gaza

“We will not allow anyone to forcibly keep us out of politics,” he said. He added that they would not allow coercion and poll rigging and would only follow Constitution.

Maulana Fazl said that establishment, bureaucracy and politicians were under the influence of west and America. He said that those groups also followed the western priorities instead of country’s Constitution. He said that international organisations were calling the shots in Pakistan.

He said that Pakistan’s ideological status was changed and the country had been turned into a secular state. However, he vowed that they would make Pakistan a truly Islamic country. He asked his party workers to struggle for achieving that objective.

The JUI-F chief said that his party only believed in political struggle within the ambit of Constitution and law. He alleged that in the last general elections, establishment tried to keep them out of parliament and also cut other parties into size and imposed a government on the country for recognition of Israel.

He said that Israel was committing atrocities against Palestinian population of Gaza. He said that Israel was unleashing its barbarism on Gaza and killing women and children. He said that Israel was also bombing residential buildings and targeting water resources.

The JUI-F chief also criticised America and other western countries for supporting Israel. He said that hands of those championing human rights were drenched in blood of Muslims. He said that Muslims were regularly branded as terrorists but Israel dropped so many bombs on Gaza in a single day that the US used in Afghanistan in a year.

He asked Muslim countries to stand with Palestinians. He said that those were testing times and the consequences of inaction on the occasion would be catastrophic.

Maulana Fazl also asked Muslim countries particularly Saudi Arabia to call a meeting of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to chart a unanimous opinion on Israeli attacks on Gaza.

He said that merged districts were promised Rs100 billion funds every year after the merger but the promise was not honoured.

Hamas leader Khalid Mashal also addressed the gathering from Gaza. PPP leader Raza Rabbani, ANP’s Haji Ghaulam Ahmed Bilour, PML-N’s Captain Safdar and Abdul Ghafoor Haideri also addressed the gathering.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2023