JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman rejects dialogue with PTI govt, calls for fresh elections

Pakistan’s Jamiat Ulema-e Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has called on the Election Commission to hold fresh elections as the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) want no dialogue with Prime Minister Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.

“Neither we are ready to hold any negotiations [with the government], nor we are in its favour,” Rehman said while addressing the media.

In a direct attack on the Imran Khan government, Rehman said that it had touched the bottom, in terms of its performance and with regard to ethics.

Meanwhile, making reference to the PML-N leader Captain Safdar’s arrest, Rehman told Pakistani reporters that the incident in Karachi was a conspiracy hatched by the opposition on divisive lines.

He also endorsed the reaction of Karachi police, where several officers applied for leaves and resignation, calling it ‘effective’.

Not willing to cancel the rallies against the Imran Khan-led government, Rehman clarified that his party will continue to hold the public gatherings despite Quetta bomb blasts.

“We will continue holding public gatherings despite the threat of bomb blasts. We have to take careful decisions regarding Gilgit Baltistan,” Rehman said as he announced a huge rally in Multan on November 30.

Rehman also alleged that by granting amnesty to the Lt. Gen. (retd.) Asim Saleem Bajwa, the chairman of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority, a legal way was being paved to commit corruption.

“China’s trust had been damaged with regard to handling of the CPEC affairs by the government,” he said.

Rehman further opined that putting restrictions on the media and pressurising other institutions was a “dictatorial act”. He also slammed the PTI government by expressing regret that so far, the government had failed to give any concrete response to the recent blast in a Peshawar school in which innocent children were killed.

The PDM has organized three mammoth rallies in Gujranwala, Karachi and Balochistan as part of countrywide agitations, demanding the resignation of Imran Khan.

Meanwhile, the PML-N vice-president rebuked the Pakistan government after the detention of Safdar Awan, a former National Assembly of Pakistan’s political member and an ex-Army officer from Karachi. Several police officers on Tuesday applied for leave in order to “come out of the […] shock” caused by the registration of an FIR and arrest of Safdar.