KARACHI: JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman made bold accusations on Thursday, claiming that apart from domestic reasons, external influences also played a significant role in the Feb 8 election results, alleging that his party was denied its true mandate by the establishment as the United States was angry over his engagements with Palestinian group Hamas and the Afghan Taliban.

Mr Rehman went on to accuse the military establishment of “always bowing to US priorities”, adding that he was “penalised” only for standing with the people of Palestine and bringing Afghanistan and Pakistan closer.

“It was my crime that I supported Hamas,” he said while addressing a huge rally called the “Awami Assembly” in Karachi.

“I even met the Hamas leadership (in Doha in November 2023) and reiterated our support. The US became angry. On the one hand, it’s our establishment, which bows to US priorities and on the other, it was me who has been penalised for supporting Muslims,” he alleged.

The JUI-F chief then ref­erred to his visit to Afgha­­nistan weeks before the ge­­neral elections in Jan­ua­­ry, which was “meant to bri­­ng the two countries closer.

However, he alleged that the US got angry again only because it wanted to weaken the Afghanistan government and “our efforts were creating hurdles” in this regard.

“So, should I quit supporting Muslims and the Islamic world only to become a member of the National Assembly? This isn’t possible,” he said.

He demanded free and fair re-elections and vowed that his party would not ac­­cept any polls in which re­­sults were changed at gunpoint. He also accused the winning parties of securing mandate in the Feb 8 polls through “deals”.

“These are fake assemblies. These are fake not only because the elections were fraudulent or the vote count was bogus but also because the seats were decided by sale and purchase. Deals were made for the provincial government to the presidency,” Mr Rehman said.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2024