ISLAMABAD: In a move likely to surprise its coalition partner PML-N, the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl announced on Wednesday a three-month protest plan.

Minister of State for Postal Services Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidri, who is secretary general of the JUI-F, criticised the Balochistan government and the Interior Ministry for not paying attention to repeated attacks on party chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

Talking to reporters here, he said: “Both the Balochistan Home Department and the Interior Ministry are totally blank over the investigation into last month’s suicide attack on Maulana Fazlur Rehman in Quetta.”

He criticised the state institutions and the authorities concerned over their failure to apprehend the culprits.

“We have the right to know the motive behind attacks on Maulana Sahib,” but the attackers were not being indentified, he said.

He said six or seven attacks had been made on the JUI-F chief but “not a single inquiry report has been provided to us”.

Maulana Haidri claimed that the JUI-F had the largest street power in the country and cautioned his coalition partners: “I warn you, do not make us pick up batons.”

He said the JUI-F planned to hold protests in the capitals of all the provinces, Gilgit-Balitstan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Dec 5, followed by protests at the district level on Dec 19 and in the tehsil and taluka headquarters on Jan 2. “Still if the government pays no heed to our demand then there will be a massive protest demonstration in Islamabad on Feb 27. But we are not going to storm the Parliament House or take the law into our own hands.”

Published in Dawn, November 27th , 2014