Political forecast: Watch out for big change after 2018 election, Fazl

Says ‘anti-Islam forces’ will never be able to vanquish people of the country

SWABI: Chief of his eponymous faction of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Maulana Fazlur Rehman has predicted a big change in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa after the 2018 general elections.

“Currently, K-P is No 1 in corruption,” the cleric said, blaming the PTI-led government for rampant corruption. “The provincial chief secretary and heads of many government institutions have resigned because of corruption of the provincial government,” he claimed. “Justice has not been done in the case of the Khyber Bank.”

The JUI-F chief believes ‘anti-Islam forces’ are attacking the Islamic civilization, while international powers had supported Imran Khan’s PTI to come to power in K-P.



“Religion has strong roots in K-P and they could not find an agent better than the PTI to damage Islamic traditions in the province and serve their interests,” he alleged. “But the JUI-F has defeated such anti-Islam agents despite their wealth and foiled the agenda of their masters.”

The politico-religious cleric said Pakistan had been created in the name of Islam and it would remain a country grounded in Islamic principles. “During the colonial rule the British had failed to uproot Islamic religious institutions and the same will happen to the intentions of the United States,” he added.

He said that the nation would have to get stronger despite increasing pressure from India and other forces. “The nation will never accept the slavery of the United States,” he added.

Addressing a ‘Protection of madaris conference”, he said that Pakistan had a bright future. He advised his workers to maintain unity in their ranks. “Some forces are trying to stop their way to parliament. Religious forces will defend Pakistan side by side with the army.”

He said that no decision to merge the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) with K-P should be made unless the consent of the tribal people was sought.

He said that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was passing through K-P but the rulers of the province were unaware of it and did not know about all the development work being done in the province.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 29^th, 2016.