MULTAN: Chief of his own faction of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said that in order to guard against misuse of Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution, some of the words mentioned in them should be defined clearly.

If the words are defined properly there will be no need to repeal the articles.

Talking to media personnel here on Friday, Maulana Fazl said he had no confidence in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) because it had been set up by a dictator. “But it is surprising that both the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz [PML-N] and Pakistan Peoples Party [PPP] kept on protecting it,” he said.

Turning to the corruption references filed against the family of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the Maulana said: “How can we expect justice from NAB [in these cases] when it is being supervised by the Supreme Court itself?”

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) had been imposed on the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to promote western culture there, the JUI-F chief said. “However, it has no future in the province.”

His party would support the candidate of the PML-N in the by-election for NA-120 constituency. “We are an ally of the PML-N and will support it during the by-poll.”

In response to a question, the JUI-F chief said the general elections would be held next year and the party supported by most people would form the government after that.

He said his party did not take part in the controversial discussions that were telecast by television channels each day from 7pm to 10pm, but was in direct contact with the masses.

All the elements concerned agreed that an alliance of religious parties should be formed, he said, adding that all the hurdles in this regard would be removed soon. “The Jamaat-i-Islami is somewhat reluctant to end its political association with the PTI,” he said.

The Maulana said that in principle his party had no objections regarding merger of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. “However the opinion of the masses should be respected in this regard.”

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2017