PM holds crucial meetings amid bill crisis

LAHORE:

With a looming threat of the JUI-F's possible march on the capital to push the government to uphold its commitment regarding the passage of religious seminaries' bill, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday held some crucial meetings.

As per reports, PM Shehbaz Sharif held a meeting with Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, following which he went to brief his elder brother — PML-N President Nawaz Sharif — and also to seek his council at his residence at Jati Umra.

After a long meeting with Nawaz, Shehbaz Sharif once again met with Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi at his residence in Model Town.

As per PML-N sources, Nawaz Sharif has advised his brother to take Maulana Fazlur Rehman into confidence and promptly forge a workable solution to avoid any faceoff with the JUI-F.

Fazl has already announced that his party would hit the roads to push the government to hold up its end of the bargain. As per the JUI-F, the madrassa bill was quid pro quo for their support of the 26 Constitutional Amendment passed on October 21.

The prime minister meeting twice with the interior minister in a single day is highly significant, as the interior minister is perceived as "the king's man." Given the government's limited control over its affairs, securing the establishment's consent on this matter is crucial.

The JUI-F chief during his speech on Sunday made no bones about who was behind impeding the bill. While addressing a rally in Peshawar, Fazl reiterated that they might decide to march on to Islamabad, where government would run out of bullets, if it decided to confront them