JUI-F formally breaks up as defiant Sherani-led leaders refuse to give in

Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani, one of the four senior leaders which the JUI-F expelled last week, has reiterated that he and other disgruntled leaders have always been a member of the JUI-P – Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Pakistan – and not the JUI-F. He has also announced to revive the JUI-P.

"We have never been a part of the JUI-F. All of us have been members of the JUI-P – a party which we inherited from our great leaders. The JUI-P is the name of the party according to its constitution,” Sherani said addressing a press conference after attending a meeting of the estranged leaders.

The JUI-F disciplinary committee on December 25 took action against Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, Maulana Gul Naseeb Khan and Maulana Shuja-ul-Mulk for “deviating from the party policy” and for “creating party within the party”.

According to a party’s spokesperson, the committee members – Agha Ayub Shah, Maulana Abdul Wasi, Maulana Abdul Hakim Akbari and others unanimously took this decision.

“If any of the four leaders clarify their case and apologise for what they have done, then the committee has the right to make a decision in that regard,” the spokesperson added.

Differences were earlier reported between the senior leaders and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who also heads an 11-party opposition alliance, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).

However, the crisis came to a head few days back when Maulana Sherani, who also served as chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), harshly criticized Maulana Fazl and called him “selected” – a word used in derogatory meaning by the PDM to describe Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Talking to reporters on December 22, Sherani also declared the PDM an “unnatural alliance that would soon break up because it has no ideology”. “Everyone [in the alliance] is struggling to come to power. Each party in the opposition alliance has its own set of interests,” he had said.

Addressing the press conference on Tuesday, Sherani said now the JUI-P’s action plan will be based on four questions. “Firstly, what we are supposed to do; secondly, what will be our relationship with Fazlur Rehman group; thirdly, what should be done to end chaos and lastly, what should be done for JUI-P’s reorganization and induction of new members.”

Sherani said none of the JUI-P's members would ever take any action against the teachings of the Qur'an and Sunnah, adding that his companions must make their own decisions as to whether they want to please God or follow their own desires.

"What is happening now is devoid of truth and honesty. We have inherited politics from the great leaders [but] these members are no longer members of this party. No political worker would be pressured under the party's discipline. God's curse is on liars and traitors," he added.

“We should encourage all colleagues not to break with the party or be stubborn. We tolerate and listen to what people say about us but we will try to isolate such liars," he added.

Earlier, addressing the disgruntled JUI leaders through a video link, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed said: “Neither have we left the party nor we have distanced ourselves from it.” He said during last year’s Azadi March, they had tried to start an internal debate but the leadership had not encouraged it.

Ahmed said some leaders had tried to tell Fazl that the political parties for which the JUI-F had staged the entire show would not come in support of the party during its sit-in in Islamabad.

“And this is what actually happened. Because of the Azadi March, Nawaz Sharif succeeded in striking a deal with the establishment and managed to leave the country on the pretext of ill health,” he added.