ISLAMABAD: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman — who was being cast as the man who could defuse tensions between the Centre and the PTI until Sunday — has accused the government of reneging on its commitments amid his efforts for mediating between the two parties.
Both sides held separate meetings with Fazl ahead of their political tensions culminating into the imposition of an emergency and governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the PTI was in power.
Addressing a press conference on Sunday, Fazl shared details of his engagement with both sides at a press conference held at his residence in Islamabad following an emergency meeting of the party’s Central Core Committee.
He said he returned from Umrah on Oct 7, after which opposition leaders approached him and asked him to play a role in resolving the political impasse.
The following day, he continued, federal ministers also visited him and sought his intervention.
Tensions between the two sides had risen since the PTI announced a long march to Islamabad to demand the release of its jailed founder, Imran Khan. An impasse had emerged after talks between the two sides failed to yield any positive outcomes last week, following which the PTI began its march but remained within KP.
Meanwhile, several federal ministers spoke about the possibility of emergency and governor’s rule in KP, linking it with the province’s security situation and the PTI’s alleged non-cooperation on counterterrorism.
At the press conference on Sunday, Fazl said the PTI’s march had avoided entering Islamabad at his request and the government’s plan to impose emergency was deferred after its delegation approached him.
“Subsequently, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif invited me to the Prime Minister House for a meeting. Although I felt the government had already made up its mind, my colleagues advised me to meet the prime minister,” he said.
He said the government had insisted that the long march be called off first while the PTI demanded that its leaders be allowed to meet Imran in jail and court order regarding his transfer to a private hospital be implemented.
Both sides were insisting that the other should take the first step, Fazl recalled.
“I asked both sides to authorise me to act as a mediator and make decisions to move the process forward,” he said, adding that he also wanted to take now dysfunctional KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi into confidence.
He said he held a conference call with Afridi, PTI Chairperson Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and PTI leader Asad Qaiser, among others.
Fazl said that during the conversation, he asked the KP chief minister whether the PTI was willing to end its long march if its demands were accepted.
“Sohail Afridi said that if the demands were accepted, they would call off the long march.”
Fazl said he had also visited the Prime Minister House and informed him that the PTI was ready to end its march if its demands were met.
“I asked the prime minister to give an assurance that the PTI would be allowed to meet Imran Khan, and Imran Khan will receive the required medical treatment,” he said.
The JUI-F chief said also intended to travel to Peshawar to hold further discussions with Afridi and other stakeholders, and that he wanted to involve two representatives each from the PTI and the PML-N in the negotiations under his “supervision to advance the process”.
However, he said, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar called him during the cabinet meeting on Sunday and informed him that the government wanted to impose an emergency in KP because of the security situation.
“I questioned the rationale behind the proposed measure, pointing out that the security situation in Balochistan was worse than in KP, yet the government had not imposed governor’s rule there.”
Fazl then accused the government of reneging on its commitments despite agreeing to a proposed course of action, saying he had questioned Dar about the purpose of seeking his mediation if the cabinet intended to make its own decision.
“I asked Dar why I was asked to mediate if the cabinet was going to make the decision on its own,” he said.
Asked whether politicians were responsible for the failure of negotiations, the JUI-F chief said the question should be put to the prime minister.
“Ask Shehbaz Sharif how much authority he had during the negotiations,” he said. He further alleged that the government had created obstacles in the way of negotiations.
‘Attack on democracy’
Fazl also rejected the government’s move to impose emergency and governor’s rule in KP, terming it an “attack on democracy and the rights of the people”.
“We reject the entire decision, word for word,” he said.
The JUI-F chief said his party would challenge the decision through all available democratic and constitutional forums, including Parliament and the courts.
“We will defend the Constitution, human rights and democratic rights in this country through constitutional and democratic platforms available to us,” he said. “We are not prepared to bow, even for a moment, before such unconstitutional measures.”
He also regretted the PPP’s role in matter, describing it as one that undermined the Constitution and democracy.
Reiterating that “we stand firmly with the Constitution of Pakistan”, he went on to refer to military operations over the year, beginning from the tenure of former military ruler retired General Pervez Musharraf to the present day. This strategy had repeatedly failed, he said.
Responding to a question about the provincial government’s performance in KP, Fazl said that if the KP government had failed, the situation in Balochistan was worse.
Asked if the opposition would resign from the assemblies, Fazl said the decision would be considered when the situation arose.