LAHORE, Sept 15: The Jamaat-i-Islami and the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazlur Rahman faction) are fast becoming rivals as JI’s Hafiz Salman Butt has decided to contest from NA-118 from the PML-N platform while the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) has given its ticket for the seat to Hafiz Abdul Wadood of the JUI-F.
JUI-F central information secretary Riaz Durrani said on Sunday that the JI had been exposed by its unprincipled politics. He, however, said they would not lodge a formal protest with the JI as long as it did not launch the election campaign for Mr Butt.
“The Jamaat is considering us like its tenants by not taking us into confidence on the issue,” Mr Durrani said bitterly.
Answering a question, he said the Jamaat had approached them on fielding Mr Butt from NA-118 from the MMA platform when relations between the two parties (JI and JUI-F) had soured due to differences over the award of the ticket for PP-150 constituency.
He categorically said that his party would not support any JI candidate if the latter campaigned for Salman Butt.
All JI leaders approached by this reporter denied or at least expressed their ignorance about the fact that Mr Butt had been allotted tiger as the election symbol in NA-118.
ARD: The Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) has rejected Gen Pervez Musharraf’s assertion that he could solve all problems of the country if he was given seven more years.
Speaking at an election meeting in Green Town here on Sunday, ARD’s deputy information secretary Munir Ahmad Khan, who is also contesting from PP-154, said the alliance’s chief as well as constituents had rejected the statement for the army government had failed to deliver during the last three years.
He said no civilian government had been given even 18 months to implement its manifesto, while the army rulers were demanding eight years to complete their seven-point agenda.
However, he said as the rulers could not deliver any good to the masses during its three-year rule, they did not deserve any extension.
He said the forthcoming elections would be a contest between pro- and anti-democracy elements. The masses would have to choose between the rule of the people and the army.