JUI-F flays PML-N, says 'took too long to recognise them for who they are'

Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) said Wednesday that it wasn’t interested in joining hands with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to form a government, claiming that it was too late in recognising the Nawaz Sharif-led party for “who they really are”.

“Ishaq Dar says we took too long in approaching them, however, we took too long to recognise them for who they are,” JUI-F leader Hafiz Hussain Ahmed said in a statement hours after his party’s Secretary-General Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri met the former finance minister on Monday.

As per the inside story of PML-N leader Dar and Haideri’s meeting, the latter offered its former ally to form a coalition government in Balochistan, according to sources.

However, Dar told Haideri that the PML-N was going to form a coalition government with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in the province as the power-sharing agreement between the two parties had already been reached in the Centre.

“The PML-N and the JUI-F can at least form a coalition government in Balochistan,” sources quoted Haideri as saying.

However, Dar responded: “We wanted to go together, but Maulana you are too late."

The PML-N leader said he had been trying to reach out to the JUI-F but to no avail. “Now we have struck an agreement with the PPP.”

In the statement, JUI-F’s Ahmed said his party had no plans of being part of the government in Balochistan and claimed that he was “surprised” that went ahead and met Dar despite the party’s stance to not be part of any set-up.

“PDM (Pakistan Democratic Movement) still exists and has not been dissolved. JUI-F leadership was ignored in national and provincial-level decisions,” he lamented.

JUI-F Emir Fazl has refused to accept the February 8 elections and said his party was made to lose elections in several constituencies via rigging and irregularities.

In a surprising move, he also met arch-rival PTI leaders and discussed launching joint protests against alleged rigging in the elections.

Moreover, Fazl also claimed that the no-confidence motion against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan was orchestrated and led by former army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa in March 2022 — with support from all parties, including PPP and PML-N.

In response, the PPP and PML-N criticised the JUI-F chief over his claims and rejected his no-trust and rigging allegations.