PPP’s refusal to join long march embitters JUI-F – Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The relationship between Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) and the People's Party of Pakistan (PPP) has begun to deteriorate after the latter refused to join the long anti-government march with leaders of both parties that now accuse each other of playing politics in this regard.

While PPP leaders still show some restraint and are not directly attacking Maulana Fazlur Rehman or other party leaders, JUI-F information secretary Hafiz Hussain Ahmed has openly criticized the PPP for its stance on the issue of The long march.

“The PPP has adopted a double standard. On the one hand, he considers that our long march is unconstitutional and illegal and, on the other, it is extending moral and political support to our protest, "said the leader of the JUI-F while speaking with Dawn on Sunday.

"The problem with the PPP is that those who are in jail want to go out and those who are out of jail do not want to go to jails," Ahmed said.

Fazl's assistant says the protest mode could still be discussed with other opposition parties.

When asked about the PPP's accusation that the leadership of the JUI-F was using a "religion card" during the planned anti-government protest, Ahmed said that the JUI-F had never criticized the PPP for always using the " Sindh card "in politics.

"The religion card is only an excuse of the PPP, since it wants to appease some powers," said the leader of the JUI-F, adding that the PPP had previously "abandoned" the opposition during the prime minister elections, President and President of the Senate. .

“Did Quaid-i-Azam not use the religion letter during the freedom movement? Is it unconstitutional to demand that the Constitution be implemented in letter and spirit? ", She asked.

Ahmed said that when the PPP faced victimization despite creating divisions in the ranks of the opposition to appease certain forces, party leaders went to Maulana Fazlur Rehman and asked him to launch a campaign against the Tehreek government of Pakistan -i-Insaf (PTI).

Ahmed made it clear that the agenda for a point in his planned march would be "new elections." However, he said that JUI-F workers and supporters would always defend Namoos-i-Risalat.

The JUI-F leader said that the protest mode could still be discussed with opposition parties at the Rahbar Committee level formed by all opposition parties during a multi-party conference (MPC) last month.

He said that the JUI-F wanted to move forward with its protest against the government after taking all parties into account.

When contacted to seek his response on Ahmed's comments, PPP Secretary General Farhatullah Babar said he would not comment at this stage, since he did not want bitterness between the two sides. However, he made it clear that the PPP had never considered the protest march as "unconstitutional" and believed that all parties had the democratic right to organize protests against the government.

The sources said that the leadership of the JUI-F was not happy with certain comments made by the president of the PPP, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, about his long planned march. The sources said that the JUI-F leaders had taken a serious note of Bhutto-Zardari's statements during his press conference last week that he was not participating in the JUI-F protest sit-in as he did not I wanted to become a & # 39; Moulvi & # 39; .

Speaking at a press conference after chairing a meeting of the central party committee in Islamabad on September 19, Bhutto-Zardari had ruled out the possibility of joining the long march.

“I don't want to do dharna policy. I want to do Shaheed Benazir Bhutto's policy. Why do you want me to become a moulvi? ”, The PPP president had said in response to a question as to why the party was escaping from the JUI-F anti-government protest.

Bhutto-Zardari said he had already announced the "moral support" of his party for the long march of the JUI-F. He said how he could believe that military leadership would not play the same role he had played during the PNA (Pakistan National Alliance) movement that led to the imposition of martial law in 1977.

The head of JUI-F, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who enjoys equally good relations with former President Asif Ali Zardari and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, recently attempted to organize a meeting between the two leaders, but all their efforts failed.

Posted on Dawn, September 23, 2019