Rocky road ahead: JUI-F, PML-N alliance in centre to trouble PTI in province

Fazlur Rehman’s spokesperson claims ruling party ‘failing due to its own mistakes’.

PESHAWAR:

An alliance between Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) at the centre is likely to cause troubles for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

The JUI-F and PML-N, which are the two main opposition parties in the K-P Assembly, have 17 lawmakers each in the provincial legislature.

JUI-F’s inclusion in the federal government was announced on Thursday after President Asif Ali Zardari approved the appointment of former K-P chief minister Akram Khan Durrani in the cabinet on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s advice.

Durrani, who has also served as the opposition leader in the K-P Assembly during the previous tenure of Awami National Party and Pakistan Peoples Party, was being tipped to be a likely member of the federal cabinet after he vacated his provincial assembly seat in favour of the National Assembly.

Shortly after Durrani was said to be joining the federal cabinet, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman launched a barrage of criticism against the PTI-led provincial government, claiming it would topple in a few months.

Incidentally, reports suggest talks between the federal government and the Taliban have been taking place for some time now. Over the past few months, the JUI-F has been on the forefront in preparing groundwork to initiate talks with the Taliban. Last year, it convened a grand tribal jirga to discuss peace with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and later also arranged an all parties conference (APC) in Islamabad which the PTI boycotted.

The JUI-F has remained adamant its constituted Grand Jirga will play a pivotal role in any peace overtures. It appears joining forces with JUI-F will also ease PML-N’s difficulties in dealing with PTI in case a settlement is reached with the Taliban.

JUI-F and PTI have been on a warpath since before the May 11 elections and the former has led a vicious media campaign against the latter, even refusing to accept its mandate in K-P.

Spokesperson for Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Jan Achakzai is of the view that both PML-N and JUI-F have done nothing to harm PTI’s government in K-P. “They are failing due to their own mistakes,” he told The Express Tribune.

Achakzai claimed the provincial government was incompetent and had failed to bring law and order under control, resulting in Peshawar becoming the “kidnapping capital of the country.”

“There is a governance crisis in K-P and even PTI chief Imran Khan is not satisfied with his party’s performance,” he claimed.

Lashing out at Imran over his statement about dissolving the K-P Assembly, Achakzai said even coalition partners Qaumi Watan Party and Jamaat-e-Islami have reservations about PTI’s governance. “[The K-P government’s] own party chief and coalition partners are talking against it, how can such a government succeed,” Achakzai maintained.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 1^st, 2013.