Presidential ordinance cannot change procedure of Senate elections, says JUI-F’s Fazl

• JUI-F's chief Fazl says government worried and in a hurry to hold Senate polls after PDM's successful rallies
• He is in Karachi to meet the central leaders of PPP and devise a plan for the Opposition to deal with the Senate election controversy, sources say 

KARACHI: The presidential ordinance cannot change the procedure of the Senate elections, says JUI-F and PDM chief Fazlur Rehman.

He says the government is worried after PDM’s successful rallies and wants to conduct the Senate polls hurriedly. But the Opposition will not stand for the unconstitutional acts, said Rehman.

The JUI-F chief was speaking to the media in Karachi Thursday. He was visiting Jamia Arabia Ahsanul-Uloom in Gulshan-e-Iqbal to offer condolences on the demise of religious scholar Maulana Zarwali Khan who passed away on December 7.

He accused the establishment of using the media to show PDM’s rally in Lahore as a failure.

“Who has given the government the authority to bypass the Constitution,” he asked. “It seems that the Cabinet does not have an understanding of constitutional matters.”

Read more on what's happening with the Senate elections

The PTI government, he said, cannot be considered a constitutional or democratic regime.

The PDM will stay united and wanted real democracy and autonomy of the institutions, he said.

JUI-F’s sources told The News that following the decision of the federal government about holding Senate elections in February instead of March, the JUI-F supremo arrived in Karachi where he is expected to meet PPP’s central leaders to make a joint strategy of the Opposition over the Senate’s polls and the PDM’s deadline to the government.

On Sindh closing down madrassas

On Thursday, the Sindh government had ordered madrassas across the province be closed to limit the spread of coronavirus.

Can the government change the date of the Senate elections?

Rehman said Wafaqul Madaris Al-Arabia is a representative body of the madrassas which will give its version on the government’s orders.

'Foreign policy has failed'

Fazl believes Pakistan should recognise Palestine, instead of Israel.

“Pakistan’s foreign policy has failed and it is facing isolation,” he said.