Shah doesn’t see Fazl coming to Islamabad

Interior minister says no one can dislodge an elected govt as long as it has people's support

ISLAMABAD: The country’s top security czar said he believes Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman will not come to Islamabad on October 27 to stage an anti-government protest, adding that this is not the ‘appropriate time’ for such protests.

“Nobody can dislodge the elected government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) as long as it has the peoples’ support. All is well for the government,” said Interior Minister Ijaz Shah while talking to media after inaugurating Overseas Pakistanis counter at Police Facilitation Centre on Tuesday.

“No one will be allowed to enter the capital’s Blue Area due to imposition of section 144. This is not the appropriate time for such protests.  When [prime minister] Imran Khan staged a sit-in in 2014 the situation was different,” he added.


The interior minister was talking with reference to the JUI-F’s Azadi March – aimed at ousting the PTI led government which the JUI-F claims came into existence through systematic rigging in 2018 polls.

“The PTI government was voted to power by people. No one can damage it as long as people trust us. The JUI-F leader is planning to protest in Islamabad against the interests of the country.”

The interior minister said soon young people graduating from religious seminaries will be able to serve the country as doctors and engineers. “We have not revised the syllabus of madrassas. Rather, we have only included books in their curriculum which would help them to become professionals.”

He said the government wants to ensure that seminary students do not necessarily end up as prayer leaders but are also eligible to join any other occupation. “No one is against madrassas or their syllabus,” he said.

He said Imran Khan is the first prime minister who raised the slogan of building Pakistan on the model of the State of Medina. “The syllabus of madrassa is not being changed; rather an effort is being made to raise educational standards. No protest march in this regard is justifiable,” he said.

Shah said his statement that four- five people were responsible for ouster of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was taken out of context.

Special Assistant to PM on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfi Bukhari congratulated Ministry of Interior and Islamabad inspector general police for launching overseas counter and hoped that the time required for issuance of certain certificates would be reduced from weeks to just days.

“We will extend mobile centers of the facility to rural areas as well. In addition, the staff of the overseas ministry will also be available at the facilitation centres,” he said.