SWABI, July 6: An MNA of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl), Maulana Khalil Ahmed, the party’s former provincial secretary-general, Najeem Khan, and other office-bearers have alleged that the extraordinary support extended by the NWFP chief minister and the JUI-F leadership to provincial Education Minister Maulana Fazl-i-Ali Haqqani has forced them to quit the party.

They tendered their resignations on Thursday, saying that they were yet to finalise their plans to join a political party. But sources said they were expected to support strong candidates against JUI-F candidates, especially the education minister.

Their main target was the minister, the sources said on Friday. They were not interested in winning elections but in depriving the Maulana of a seat in the national or provincial legislature, said sources.

The NWFP education minister is expected to contest from NA-13 and PF-35 Swabi- 5 in the next general elections. “It was Maulana Haqqani who along with his supporters eroded the position of Maulana Khalil and his supporters, adopted a rigid stand and got them expelled from the party in February,” said an insider.

“We expected that Maulana Fazlur Rehman would play his role in resolving the issues but Maulana Haqqani got all such moves scuttled,” said a leader of the party.

Former JUI-F provincial general-secretary Maulana Khalil, former joint secretary Najeem Khan, former finance secretary Zaman Khan and Wilayat Shah were expelled from the party by the district Shura over alleged anti-party activities in February.

The membership of Maulana Khalil Ahmad was suspended for three years while the remaining three members were expelled from the party for 15 years.