NATO supplies issue: JUI-F to hold nationwide protest on July 13

Fazl says govt’s decision to reopen routes is not in national interest.

PESHAWAR:

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman announced on Monday that his party will hold nationwide protests against the reopening of Nato supply routes on July 13.

Addressing a media briefing after the party’s central shura meeting at its provincial headquarters, Rehman said that his party will observe countrywide protests against the decision, adding that the government’s decision was not in the national interest. He added that JUI-F activists will organise demonstrations and stage sit-ins across Pakistan.

The party unveiled the protest plan, as the Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC) and Jamaat-e-Islami were already on the road with their ‘long march’ from Lahore to Islamabad.

Dual nationality, contempt bills opposed

The JUI-F chief claimed that the party’s shura had also decided to oppose the government’s proposed dual nationality bill. “Dual nationality is a complicated issue,” Rehman said, adding that the Supreme Court has highlighted it, and that constitutionally a person holding two nationalities was not allowed to become a member of parliament. He said that the proposed bill on the issue was aimed at protecting a handful of people.

Rehman further lambasted the proposal, saying that if today this restriction was removed for those holding dual nationalities, then someday an Indian citizen could also become a member of Pakistan’s parliament.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 10^th, 2012.