Govt to move court against Maulana Fazlur Rehman

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided to approach the court over a recent statement by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak said on Saturday.

Khattak, who is in charge of the government' committee for negotiations with the oppositions Azadi March protesters, was addressing media in Islamabad alongside senior leaders Asad Umar, Shafqat Mehmood and Firdous Ashiq Awan.

Thousands of protesters under the rallying banner of JUI-F and other opposition parties have converged on the federal capital, seeking to send Prime Minister Imran Khan packing. Led by Fazlur Rehman, the opposition leaders on Friday gave the prime minister a two-day ultimatum to resign.

The press conference came after Prime Minister Imran Khan convened a meeting of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf's core committee at Banigala earlier in the day to discuss a strategy to deal with the protesters.

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"The core committee has decided that we will go to court against Maulana Fazl's statement of the people going to the PM House and forcing the prime minister to resign," he said. "We think this is mutiny and that he is steering people towards the wrong path."

Defence Minister Pervez Khattak said that the government won't even consider the prospect of Prime Minister Imran resigning.

"There will be no talk of the prime minister resigning," he said. "No one should even consider it."

The defence minister said that his team was in contact with the Rahbar Committee. Reacting to yesterday's statements by the JUI-F chief and other opposition leaders, Khattak said that he was disappointed at the speeches.

Khattak lashed out at the opposition parties, stating that they weren't sticking to their claims.

"They're using threatening language. When these opposition parties do that, it means that they won't back up their claims," he said.

Khattak hoped that the protesters would not breach the agreement between the Rahbar Committee and the Islamabad administration.

"If they violate the agreement, then the administration will take action," he said. "Make no mistake about it--if anything unfortunate happens, these people will be held responsible," he said.  

The defence minister said that if 30,000-40,000 people took to the streets and demanded the prime minister's resignation, then the country could never see democracy thriving. 

"These people have no demands  except for just one--they want the prime minister to resign," he said. "Political figures should think about their words a bit."

Khattak said that the  opposition's announcement of moving forward will prove to be harmful for the country. 

"The government doesn't include me and Imran Khan only," he said. "All other departments included under it are also the government."