Gandapur's remarks damaging potential opposition alliance, says JUI-F

• Hamdullah says KP CM's remarks harming PTI's cause.
• Adds JUI-F's policies don't revolve around personalities.
• Says JUI-F handed over reservations to PTI's Asad Qaiser.
  

ISLAMABAD: As Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) steps up its efforts to court allies for an anti-government drive after eid, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) has warned that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister's comments about its chief could seriously hurt a potential alignment.

"KP CM Ali Amin Gandapur's statements are causing harm to his party's (PTI) cause ... a grand opposition alliance is in the works, but dissenting voices are emerging from within PTI," JUI-F leader Hafiz Hamdullah said while speaking in the Geo News programme 'Naya Pakistan' on Saturday.

Gandapur's recent remarks targeting JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman have caused uproar within the ranks of the religio-political party.

Earlier in the week, speaking to a private news channel, Gandapur dismissed Fazl as a "threat", saying that the JUI-F chief means nothing at all to him. "As opposition alliance is in the making, we have to talk to all sorts of parties — big and small," he had said.

"I don't want to say too much ... or they'll complain to Imran Khan that I'm too harsh on Maulana sahab," he added.

In April 2024, the PTI had already formed the Tehreek-e-Tahafuz Aiyeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP), a multi-party opposition alliance comprising the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PKMAP), Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), and Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM).

After talks between the government and the opposition collapsed in January, the PTI made another push to establish a joint front against the ruling coalition by roping in ex-premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi earlier this month to become part of its movement.

Last month, TTAP leaders also held their two-day conference, which held the "rigged" February 8, 2024 general elections responsible for the ongoing economic, political and social crises facing the country.

Speaking during today's programme, Hamdullah questioned Gandapur's agenda amid efforts to form an opposition alliance, saying that when PTI was moving towards a common cause, then who was raising a voice against it?

Emphasising that JUI-F's policies were not personalities-centric, Hamdullah said they had nothing to do with Gandapur ... let the PTI deal with him.

He further stated that his party had conveyed its reservations to PTI leader and former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser, adding, "Now it's his responsibility to present our viewpoint to the PTI leadership."

"Qaiser will now inform us of his party's response to our concerns," Hamdullah added.

A day earlier, The News reported that the JUI-F has conveyed its conditions and reservations to the former ruling party about joining the opposition's grand alliance.

Sources said that the JUI-F's leadership has apprised Qaisar of conditions — some of which also pertain to KP CM Gandapur — if it is to join the opposition's alliance.

Meanwhile, JUI-F spokesman Aslam Ghori reportedly said that the party leadership has yet to take any formal decision to join the grand alliance.