PTI minister sends Rs50b notice to Fazl

PTI heavyweights accuse JUI-F chief of inciting seminary students against govt

ISLAMABAD: Kashmir Affairs Minister Ali Amin Gandapur said on Monday that legal notice of Rs50 billion in damages had also been served on Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman for making anti-state and derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Gandapur’s announcement at a press conference in Islamabad comes as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) heavyweights accused Fazl of inciting the madrassah students against the democratic setup to impede economic stability in the country.

“Fazl has indulged in politics of blackmailing and religious hatred to save his sinking political career,” Gandapur said, adding that Fazl was issued the legal notice for his anti-state remarks and inciting people to violence during a public address in Lahore on September 22.

“We have evidence against Maulana that he is working on foreign agenda,” Gandapur said. “I will approach the court if Maulana Fazalur Rehman did not tender an apology publicly and step back from his plan of holding a foreign-funded march, within 15 days,” he added.

Earlier, Leader of the House in Senate Shibli Faraz said in an interview that Fazl playing religious cards to achieve his personal motives and inciting the seminary students against a democratic set up to impede economic stability in the country and the reforms being introduced for the seminaries.

At the press conference, Gandapur asked the parents of madrassah students to prevent their children from participating in the JUI-F’s “Azadi march” and stay away from the agenda of his foreign masters.

In a separate interview, Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry echoed the views of the two top PTI leaders. “Fazl should not use the innocent and apolitical students of madrassahs for his political gains,” he said.

“The JUI-F has the right to hold peaceful protest within the ambit of laws,” he said, adding that the JUI-F was going to hold the protest against the government to benefit the leadership of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for plea bargaining.

Similarly, Punjab Information Minister Aslam Iqbal told reporters in Lahore on Monday that Fazl remained chairman of the Kashmir Committee for many years but he showed no concern for resolving the Kashmir dispute.

He said the PPP and the PML-N made a good decision of staying away from the march. “The real motive of Maulana’s so-called march was not the solution to the problems of the people but it is something else,” he said.

He regretted that a letter attributed to the JUI was circulating on the social media in which people, as well as the seminary students, had been urged to join the so-called Azadi march with bamboo sticks. “The Maulana should shun such type of politics of chaos,” he added.

Meanwhile, the JUI-F termed "fabricated" a document being shared widely on social media that lists a set of instructions allegedly by the party to the participants of its upcoming anti-government protest in Islamabad on October 27.