Nothing short of PM’s resignation: Fazl

SUKKUR: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Wednesday that the march would end only when the government of Prime Minister Khan was toppled, as he would not backtrack on demand of PM’s resignation.

He said that he will not postpone his party's scheduled Azadi March come what may.

While talking to the media at the Sukkur Airport, the JUI-F chief strongly criticised the government for an unannounced crackdown against his party, and said a large number of his party workers had been arrested and hurdles are being created in the way of peaceful conduct of the proposed Azadi March. He warned that things could get bad if any unlawful action was taken against his party.

Fazl said the opposition parties can resume the talks with the PTI government. We have all the respect for the institutions, but advise them in order to maintain their prestige and trust among the nation, they must refrain from confronting the Azadi March and stay neutral in the whole affair.

Fazl said the nation will decide the fate of Imran Khan who is bent upon implementing the western agenda and said the JUI-F will resist that with full might. The JUI-F chief said the prime minister was an agent of the hidden forces who are keeping him in the office for their agenda. He said the people are fed up with the government due to its policies in just one year and cannot tolerate it anymore. Terming the incumbent government as incompetent, he said their inept policies have seriously hurt the economy, damaged industries to an extent that many industrial units have been shut down. He said inflation has gone so high that it is becoming difficult for the common man to afford two square meals.

Speaking about the Kashmir issue, Fazl said we believe that Imran Khan, alongside Modi is equally responsible for unleashing atrocities against the Kashmiri people. The prime minister has sold away the Kashmir cause and is taking no practical steps to help the Kashmiris, he charged.

Fazl said character assassination campaigns and foul language against the opposition leadership was the trademark of the PTI government whereas he has always criticised the government while remaining in the norms of decency and in exercise of the opposition’s democratic right to do so. He said Imran has unleashed the worst dictatorship against the opposition leaders by framing false NAB cases against them and throwing them into prisons. Fazl warned the government of being held responsible if anything goes wrong with the incarcerated former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and ex-president Asif Ali Zardari. He also cited the alleged poor treatment being meted out to the former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who is being kept in the death cell. Criticising the draconian curbs of the PTI government against the media, Fazlur Rehman said the media is gagged and the freedom of expression has been snatched. He said the TV channels are being forced not to broadcast his speeches and press conferences and hoped that the media will not compromise their freedom of expression under government pressure.

Rehbar Committee Convener Akram Durrani said that Prime Minister Imran Khan would have to resign.

In a statement, Durrani said that the committee had demanded the resignation of the prime minister and they would not go back without it.

“We asked for the prime minister’s resignation. Won’t go back without it,” he said.

Durrani said that he neither had contacted Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani nor Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak. He said that the two had contacted him instead.

He also gave the Rehbar Committee’s message to the government not to create any hurdles for participants of the march.

“The leadership will not meet the government without the Rehbar Committee,” he said. “Even JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman will not meet Pervaiz Elahi.”

The JUI-F announced a long march against the government, which would begin from October 27 and would culminate in a protest on October 31 in Islamabad.

Meanwhile, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari vowed to bring down the ‘puppet’ government of Prime Minister Imran and install a ‘people’s government’ in its place.

The Bhutto scion was addressing a rally in Tharparkar’s district Islamkot. Bilawal said that everywhere he saw difficulties for the people of Pakistan.

“Everywhere there are issues, and that is why I have come out to topple Imran Khan’s government,” he said.

The PPP chairman said that the democratic, economic and political rights of the people of Pakistan were being usurped. He said that the government was carrying out an economic bloodshed.

During his speech, Bilawal lashed out at the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) by calling them traitors of the soil and branded Prime Minister Imran an ‘enemy of Sindh’.

He accused the government of making a deal on the issue of occupied Kashmir and said that no honorable man would support the incumbent rulers.

Bilawal also slammed the government’s ally, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) by claiming that efforts were afoot to occupy Karachi.

PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif and other senior leaders have warned the government against displaying criminal negligence to Nawaz Sharif’s health, threatening that Prime Minister Imran Khan would be held accountable if the government committed any more neglect regarding Nawaz’ health.

The PML-N will take direct action if Nawaz Sharif’s health is jeopardized by the government in future, and its responsibility will be solely on the PTI government, they said while addressing a convention of central and provincial leaders, and party ticket-holders at the party secretariat on Wednesday evening.

Shahbaz warned that Imran had crossed all limits of political victimization and hatred against political opponents, and could not be allowed to remain in power any further for the sake of protecting democracy and constitutional institutions in the country. He said the PML-N will whole-heartedly participate in the Azadi March along with other opposition parties to display political power and to put forth political demands before the nation. “The future line of action will be drawn after having guidelines from Nawaz Sharif,” he said.

Shahbaz lamented that a selected prime minister had thrown in jail a prime minister elected thrice by people. He turned the country into a nuclear power, increased 12000MW power in the system despite a 126-day paralyzing sit-in by the PTI in Islamabad, and brought the game changer CPEC in the country for developing the nation’s future. He said Imran is victimizing Nawaz despite the fact that not a single rupee of corruption could be proved against him. He said Imran Khan has taken a U-turn on all the development Nawaz Sharif made in his three tenures. “The nation must be rid of this liar and coward selected prime minister at the earliest to bring back the country on the road to progress, since Imran has crashed the economy, agriculture and industrial sectors beyond recovery,” he said.

Shahbaz asked the nation to hold accountable Imran Khan for his U-turns on all his electoral promises, throwing the country into huge foreign loans, resulting in price hike and unemployment, and asking the poor to be patient when they are dying of hunger and poverty. He condemned Imran for displaying height of cruelty by snatching free health facilities from poor patients, cheap food and travel facilities provided by the previous governments. He said Imran used to say that a single rupee increase in the dollar rate was enough to prove that rulers are corrupt and thieves, but now he is fooling the nation despite increasing the dollar rate to over 50 rupees, and shifting the blame over to the previous governments.

The meeting reviewed preparations for joining the Azadi March on October 31 and Kashmir Solidarity Day rallies on Oct 27 in the light of instructions given by party supreme leader Nawaz Sharif, and finalized different phases of party’s participation in various cities.

A communiqué issued by the meeting warned that the PTI government displayed deliberate delay in providing healthcare to Nawaz Sharif, endangering his life by crossing all limits of political hatred, thus proving that Imran has become blind in his hatred of PML-N and political opponents. It said the delayed healthcare was shown despite several warnings by Nawaz Sharif’s personal doctor. It said the PTI government is crippling the opposition parties using state machinery only to cover its own corruption and incompetence. It warned that Imran would be held accountable if any more negligence to Nawaz Sharif’s healthcare is found.

It noted that Nawaz Sharif is being victimized to make a precedent for the opposition parties, and rulers are playing as “judge, jury and executioners” themselves to satisfy their hatred of the PML-N. The communiqué said that after showing utter failure on all spheres of life including economy, agriculture, industry and social sectors, the Imran government has no right to remain in power, and it must resign immediately to pave the way for fresh elections so that people could elect their genuine representative government. It noted with concern that price hike had broken the backbone of common man as people are dying of hunger and committing suicides along with children.

The communiqué said the meeting paid tributes to political prisoners, particularly the PML-N leaders, who are being kept in death cells only to please the out-of-control hatred of Imran Khan towards political opponents. The meeting condemned the arrests of Maryam Nawaz and Capt Safdar, and demanded that Rana Sanaullah must be released immediately after the Anti-Narcotics Force and CCTV footage exposed the blatant lies of the government and a conspiracy to silence his voice against the PTI government.

Meanwhile, talking to the media, PML-N Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal said Imran Khan and PTI rulers are like vicious wolves and lack basic human values, which was proved with their out of limits victimization of the opposition leaders. He warned that if anything happens to Nawaz, the PML-N would hold Imran accountable, warning that Nawaz’s life is in danger because of Imran Khan’s hatred.

Senator Pervaiz Rahseed told the media that if anything happens to the life of Nawaz, a murder case would not be registered in Pakistan but in the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Senior PML-N leader Khwaja Asif told the media that the party would never forget those who have been making mockery of Nawaz Sharif’s health condition. “We will neither forgive their faces nor their words and taunts,” he said and added the nation keep praying for good days, as this time would pass very soon and good days are round the corner.

PML-N Information Secretary Marriyum Aurengzeb refuted the reports about Nawaz Sharif being sent abroad for treatment. She said the PTI government is abducting political opponents and has locked down Islamabad itself before the opposition could reach there. She said the ANF had exposed the web of lies by Interior Minister Sheheryar Afridi against Rana Sanaullan, and demanded that Sanaullah should be immediately released after the government conspiracy was exposed. She lamented that the judge hearing a fake case against Sanaullah was changed on orders issued on Whatsapp, and was never replaced.