Establishment, get out of JUI-F's way warns Fazlur Rehman

Fazl says money spent on education, health in a year less than what is being spent on the armed forces in a day.

PESHAWAR: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl chief Fazlur Rehman said on Sunday that the establishment has obstructed the JUI-F’s way and if it doesn't “get out of its way” then it will be responsible for any discord that takes place.

Addressing the Islam Zindabad Conference in Peshawar, he said that it was “tragic” to see that parliamentary resolutions have not been implemented. The JUI-F leader said that the amount of money spent on education and health in a year is less than what is “being spent on the armed forces in a day”.

Hinting at the armed forces, he said, “We do not want deductions in anyone’s budget, but why should a common man remain deprived of basic rights like education and health?”

“When we were in power in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, we had allocated Rs300-350 million for education. We provided free education and free health facilities to people. If JUI-F can spend so much on education and health, we will spend more if we govern Pakistan.”

Government attacked

The JUI-F chief said that many governments came to an end due to rampant corruption, but corruption itself never ended in Pakistan.

Fazl said that Pakistan was made as a result of promises and dreams. He said people still waited for the “realisation of those dreams and the fulfillment of those promises”.

While the participants chanted an altered version of the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) slogan, zinda hai Jamiat, zinda hai (Jamiat is alive), Fazl said, “We have witnessed the slogans of roti, kapra aur makaan (food, clothing and shelter), but the poor are still waiting for the government’s promises to be fulfilled.”

Fazl said, “Shouting slogans and making promises will not help this country. Corruption and inflation will prevail and keep increasing if the budget is not devised properly.”

He said that currently, Pakistan neither has an economic policy nor a foreign policy.

JUI’F’s manifesto based on Quran, Sunnah

Fazl said that his party’s manifesto was set on the principles of Quran and Sunnah and prosperity cannot be achieved until and unless sharia is implemented in the country.

“[Jamiat-e-Ulema] JUI-F keeps reiterating that we have to repeat what our prophets did. You cannot appease the famers and labourers until you follow the sharia.”