Payback time: JUI-F seeks rewards for its services

Fazl says the govt is out of crises, we want it to fulfil the promises it made

ISLAMABAD: The political impasse is not yet over but those who lent their shoulders to ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in testing times are not only eying at their reward but have also started countdown for the fulfilment of promises.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), an ally of the ruling PML-N, on Tuesday demanded of the government to fulfil its promises. The demand was made by JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman at a press conference following the conclusion of a two-day Majlis-e-Shura meeting.

“We are mindful of the fact that the government had been facing testing times … today it has come out of crisis and we want the government to start fulfilling the promises it made with us,” the JUI-F chief said.

The commitments, he clarified, were made by the government at the time of joining hands or becoming part of the federal government as a coalition.

“We want introduction of Islamic system,” he said while recalling that the JUI-F, during its rule in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, had introduced interest-free banking in the province.

“We had quit the coalition during the last regime of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) after they failed to honour the commitments made with us,” Fazl said responding to a question. The demands at that time were also the same.

Responding to the question: for how long the JUI-F would wait, he said that “the PML-N is a party whose approach is also religious and it would do the needful. We are even ready to give them five long years provided they start implementing the commitments.”

Rehman, however, did not give any deadline to the government in this regard.

When asked whether the JUI-F had discussed the on-going agitation by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Fazl’s answer was simple: “we do not give them any importance and it was not part of the agenda.”

“The PTI’s sit-in, which has stretched for three months, did not yield any benefit,” he said while adding that “it is because of the PTI’s sit-in and its results that perhaps no one in future would think about this mode of protest.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 26^th, 2014.