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Updated 09 Apr, 2019 01:52pm

Fazlur Rehman, Nawaz discuss 'shared concern' on inflation, economy

Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Tuesday called on former prime minister Nawaz Sharif at his residence to inquire about the latter's health and discuss the political situation in the country.

Rehman, while talking to journalists after the meeting, said he had been in touch with other political leaders, including Asif Ali Zardari. He added that he will also call on Zardari in the next few days as believes that "internal connections [among opposition parties] should remain intact".

Read more: JUI-F march to Islamabad will bring down PTI govt: Fazl

"The agenda of the meeting was limited to inquiring about his [Nawaz Sharif's] health, but we also discussed our shared concerns about towering inflation, which is affecting the common man, and the troubled economy," he said while responding to a question.

Calling Prime Minister Imran Khan a "fake and khala'i [extra-terrestrial]" premier, Rehman described the current regime as an "installed" one. He added that the ruling regime has no knowledge of the ideology of Pakistan, the ground realities of the country and the economy.

He repeated that the JUI-F has completed 10 'million marches' against the government and that they are ready for a decisive one.

Meanwhile, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry — who is already not in the good books of the JUI-F — took to Twitter to criticise the meeting and asked the judiciary to take notice.

"The Supreme Court had been informed that Nawaz Sharif was ill at a extant that it would be life threatening if he is denied bail. Lied, as always. And now instead of an ambulance, Fazalur Rehman has reached there and is providing political oxygen to Mian Nawaz Sharif. Courts should take a notice of it."

Earlier on Sunday, Rehman had said that his party was fully active and ready to bring down the government. “We have already mobilised our workers by holding 10 'million marches' in the country and are planning a decisive one, towards Islamabad, after which the PTI government will not survive,” he had said while speaking to the media at the residence of a senior party colleague in Kandhkot-Kashmore.

He had echoed the concern of the PPP about the 18th Constitutional Amendment and criticised what he called the government’s moves to abrogate the Amendment. He had warned that such an act would be tantamount to “treason”.

“My party has been running a mass contact campaign to get people rid themselves of the government,” he had added, pointing out that the country was today facing an economic crisis due to an all time high volume of foreign loans, which were constantly increasing.

The prime minister had recently mocked the JUI-F chief's bluster during a speech in Jamrud, describing the Maulana as a child who got out too soon in a game of cricket and now does not want to let anyone play. The remark was a reference to Rehman's humiliating defeat first in the July 2018 general elections, and then in a bid for the president's seat, and his subsequent attempts at maintaining political relevancy.

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