JUI-F to contest Senate polls

Party’s top leadership also supports options of en masse resignation from assemblies, long march

ISLAMABAD:

Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam Fazl's (JUI-F) central decision-making body, led by party chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, has formally approved the decision to contest the upcoming Senate polls – scheduled to be held next month.

The decision comes days after the JUI-F, part of the anti-government Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) political alliance, softened its earlier stance of boycotting elections and decided to take part in electoral politics.

Fazl had said last week that opposition parties are participating in the electoral process to block the way of ‘incompetent candidates’ from becoming members of the upper house of parliament.

In today’s meeting, the party is said to have decided to contest polls in view of major PDM allies' — PPP and PML-N — decision of participating in by-polls and Senate elections.

According to the sources, JUI-F will field its candidate for Senate polls from Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

The meeting also fully supported the options of en masse resignation from assemblies and a long march on Islamabad in a bid to topple Prime Minister Imran Khan's government.

The insiders said the meeting was informed that JUI-F workers and supporters from across the country were ready for a long march and a sit-in in the federal capital.

Fazl who also heads PDM had earlier announced that opposition lawmakers would step down from all legislative assemblies of the country in a bid to break the Senate electoral college to stop it from taking place.

The 11-party alliance is mainly dominated by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) and JUI-F. Last month, the PDM announced a series of protest rallies in various cities of the country as part of the next phase of its anti-government campaign, beginning with a demonstration outside the office of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Jan 19.