MANSEHRA: Chief of the opposition Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Saturday claimed that his party won the first phase of the local body elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the military establishment withdrew support for the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.

“Our viewpoint about this [PM Imran Khan-led] government is no different from what it was after the 2018 general elections. Stolen public mandate led the PTI into power. The people admire us for our anti-PTI commitment and overwhelmingly voted for us in the first phase of the LG elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. That will repeat in the second phase [of LG polls] as well,” Mr Fazl told his party’s Payyam-i-Jamiat Convention here.

Mr Fazl, who is also the president of the opposition’s alliance, Pakistan Democratic Movement, alleged that Prime Minister Imran Khan was implementing the ‘West’s agenda’ in the country.

He said Islam taught its followers to confront the evil forces and injustices and therefore, his party was challenging the country’s corrupt rulers, who rendered politics a stigma.

Says country facing bankruptcy due to govt’s flawed policies

The JUI-F chief said his was the only political party with an ideology and it had been using all possible political ways for the enforcement of Islamic laws in the country despite being subjected to severe injustices.

He criticised the government for what he called finalising the so-called National Security Policy without taking parliament into confidence.

“We will never accept any policy for which parliament is out of the loop. Former military ruler General Ayub Khan did the same. He sold the country’s three rivers to India, which is currently building more and more power projects on them to create a drought-like situation in Pakistan,” he said.

Mr Fazl alleged that Prime Minister Imran Khan had surrendered the country to the International Monetary Fund for loan by compromising national security and integrity.

He also claimed that the PTI government had embezzled the international financial assistance given for effectively responding to novel coronavirus in the country.

The JUI-F leader insisted that China wanted to invest over $70 billion in mega development projects in the country but the prime minister blocked it saying his country needed micro projects and not macro ones.

“Our prime minister whom I earlier called selected has now emerged as an irrational person, who refused $35 billion Chinese investment for hydropower projects during a visit to China, our time-tested friend,” he said.

Mr Fazl said the country had lagged far behind India and other development countries due to the flawed policies of the PTI during the last more than three years.

“Because of the Imran Khan government’s wrong economic policies, the country faces bankruptcy,” he said.

The JUI-F leader said high inflation and unemployment rates and poverty was forcing more and more people to commit suicide in frustration.

He said the military establishment shouldn’t support a government, which plunged the country into a serious economic crisis and made the people struggle for a livelihood.

JUI-F provincial emir Maulana Attaur Rehman and other party leaders also addressed the convention.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2022