We haven’t returned empty-handed from Islamabad dharna: Maulana Fazl

JUI-F chief says PTI government doesn’t have a leg to stand on and its days are numbered

BANNU: [fbvideo link="https://www.facebook.com/etribune/videos/829704907449001/"][/fbvideo]

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said his party did not end its two-week long sit-in in Islamabad – tagged as Azadi March – without achieving its targets and that the days of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) federal government are numbered.

Rebuffing the notion that ‘Azadi March’ – that started on October 27 and ended on November 13 – failed to yield desired results, Fazl said the government’s roots have been cut and its days are numbered due to his party’s protest movement.

“We did not go to Islamabad without any reason nor have we returned empty-handed,” he said on Tuesday while addressing a party gathering in Bannu.

The JUI-F had camped in Islamabad with the professed aim to oust Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government but ended the sit-in apparently without striking any deal with the government with which Fazl and other opposition parties were engaged in talks at two tiers.

The JUI-F had later announced to pursue its Plan B which included closure of important highways across the country through sit-ins. Addressing his supporter, Fazl said the PTI government now did not have a leg to stand on and that its days were numbered.

“The incumbent rulers have no ideology of their own and they do not have anything but curses for their opponents. They cannot be allowed to rule by stealing votes… we have come out for Pakistan’s democracy and to shield its Constitution,” he said.

The JUI-F chief said Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ‘corruption rhetoric’ has failed as people within the ruling party are seeking the premier’s personal accountability. Responding to PM Imran’s Monday speech, Fazl said he is ready to face off the former. “Come out and compare your character with mine and your father’s and grandfather’s with my elders’,” he said addressing the prime minister.

He said fresh elections are the only way out of current crises facing the country.

While inaugurating 39.3km Havelian-Mansehra section of the HavelianThakot motorway, the PM used his speech at the ceremony to speak his mind out on two issues — Azadi March and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s illness — which remained the talking points on the media since last month.

He accused the Maulana of duping “innocent madrassah students” into joining the ‘Azadi March’ and using the “religion card” for “petting political gains”. The prime minister also called the sit-in a marriage of interests where “self-styled liberals stood shoulder to shoulder with conservatives and Islamists”.