Fazl warns of foreign plot to derail CPEC

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has claimed that efforts are underway to stop the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project — to serve foreign interests. He has warned that undermining CPEC will mean closing all economic avenues for Pakistan.

"International powers are interfering in Pakistan's politics and CPEC's route is being obstructed to serve foreign interests," the JUI-F chief said on Sunday while addressing his party's provincial council in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) provincial capital.

CPEC — comprising a network of road and rail links — is a part of China's Belt and Road Initiative, a global infrastructure development strategy adopted by Beijing in 2013.

Referring to earlier grievances against Imran Khan's government, he said the current administration had also failed to change policy. He asserted that militants were not arriving spontaneously but were being brought in, and that foreign powers were deeply involved in Pakistan's political affairs.

"These conditions are manufactured, not organic," he said.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman said the country lacked peace and safety and that ordinary life had become dangerous. "Today, leaving the house and returning safely is considered luck. Ruthless killers roam freely while the state appears powerless," he said.

During his speech, Fazl described PTI's K-P government as corrupt and corrupting. He said those who patronize the provincial government are equally complicit in destroying the province.

He claimed that real governance did not exist in the province and that bad governance prevailed. Those imposed on the province, he said, were brought in by the establishment.

Fazl also accused state actors of having admitted that some parties including the JUI-F were deprived of their legitimate seats in the National Assembly and provincial legislatures in the last elections.

He claimed that the party had insisted that the province — as the owner of its mineral resources — and future generations must not be deprived of their rights in lawmaking.

He warned that if legislations are framed in a way that deprived local people of their rights, the JUI-F would resist. He warned against attempts to introduce a Mines & Minerals Bill in Balochistan and the K-P that would erode provinces' rights under Article 73 of the 1973 Constitution.

Fazl said the JUI-F stands by the Constitution and national survival.

"We are not proponents of gun politics. We stand by the declarations of all schools of thought. Our position is clear and firm — we are fighting the battle for the country's survival and for the supremacy of the law," he said.

The provincial council meeting was also addressed by provincial ameer Maulana Ataur Rehman, provincial general secretary Maulana Ataul Haq, Mufti Nasir Mahmood, and Engineer Ziaur Rehman. The council approved holding a conference for Mufti Mahmood in DI Khan on October 16.