Fazl vows to foil attempts to keep him away from electoral politics

• "We believe in fair and just politics," says Fazl.
• JUI-F wants to restore confidence of foreign investors: JUI-F chief.
• Representatives of various political parties, Palestine attend conference.

PESHAWAR: Apparently referring to the political engineering, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islami-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has vowed to thwart any attempt at keeping him from electoral politics through rigged elections.

“We believe in fair and just politics. We want to go to elections. But let me say it categorically that if anyone tries to keep us out of parliament, we will resist it. We play politics of reason. But will not tolerate any injustice. Let me make it clear that we are not timid. We know how to respond,” he remarked

Fazl was addressing the Mufti Mahmud Conference in Peshawar on Saturday, The News reported.

Attended by a huge number of party workers from across the province, the conference was also addressed by representatives of various political parties and representatives of Palestine.

Head of Hamas Khaled Mashal delivered a special address through a video link. Palestinian representative Dr Naji Zaheer also addressed the conference.

Prominent among others who spoke on the occasion were former Senate chairman and leader of Pakistan People’s Party Mian Raza Rabbani, Captain Safdar from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour from Awami National Party, Central Secretary General of JUIF Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, provincial president Maulana Ataur Rahman and others.

Fazl, who also heads the multi-party alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), said the JUI-F wanted to steer the country out of the prevailing mess. They wanted to bring about political stability in the country to restore the confidence of foreign investors, he said.

“But for this we would not sacrifice our entire politics and would not allow our forced ouster from the political arena. We would not allow any rigging. We are not ready to bow our heads down in the field of politics as we are familiar with doing politics with honour and dignity,” he remarked.

He held the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) rule responsible for the current wave of inflation in the country. He said that he had made it clear before the PDM took over power that Pakistan had been pushed to a quagmire during the three and a half-year government of the PTI.

The PDM government brought the country out of the crisis but its results could not be delivered to the common man, he claimed.

“Had the development process been continued as it was before the 2018 election, the situation in the country would have been much different. But during the three-year rule of Imran Khan the country’s economic position reached 47 from 24th. The $16 billion forex reserve was reduced to just $2 billion in three years,” he further claimed.

He said that under a well-hatched plan, genuine political forces were ousted from parliament in 2018 and “an agent” was imposed on the country to recognise Israel. “But we maintained our struggle on the streets and foiled all their designs,” he said.

Regarding the recent offensives of Israel in Palestine, Maulana Fazl said that Israel had launched brutal terror activity against Palestinians. “Israel has crossed all the limits. They have been shedding the blood of children, women and non-combatant elderly people. They attack buildings, destroy water reservoirs and other resources,” he said.