PESHAWAR: Head of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUIF) Maulana Fazlur Rahman has ruled out the possibility of talks with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), saying Imran Khan is “an unnecessary element of Pakistani politics” and there was no need to listen to him.
“It is for the first time in political history that an opposition leader is threatening a government to hold talks with it, otherwise it would do this and that. Normally, it is the government, which makes offers for talks to the opposition if it senses some danger. Here the case is the other way round,” he said while talking to media persons here on Monday.
Family members of Senator Dilawar Khan from Mardan including Azam Khan and Adnan Khan announced joining JUIF on the occasion. The Maulana said that the days of holding talks with Imran Khan were over. “His so-called long march has bitten the dust. They had announced a march towards Islamabad, which was diverted to Rawalpindi. Then they declared a gathering outside Gate No 4, which was shifted to Faizabad. Later, they said they would stay there for a long time and but their stay could not exceed more than just one hour,” he said sarcastically.
The PDM head said that the country was passing through a serious financial crisis. “The country’s economy was destroyed during the four years of the PTI government. The economic revival of the country is a big challenge”, he added.
The Maulana criticized the statements of the US about the human rights violations in Pakistan. He said that these statements were against the sovereignty and interference in the internal affairs of the country.
“The US is known for human rights violations and it has broken all records of the violation of basic human rights in Afghanistan during its 20-year stay there”, he said. He said the US suffered a humiliating defeat in Afghanistan after 20 years of atrocities against the Afghan people and thus it lost the title of the superpower.
“If the US is really concerned about human rights violations, it should take notice of Indian atrocities in Occupied Kashmir and against the Muslim minority in India”, he maintained. The Maulana said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was a puppet of the US. The IMF’s pressure on Pakistan and imposition of more conditions for the release of more tranches are unjustifiable and condemnable”, he said.
The PDM chief added that the US had been trampling human rights across the globe and therefore, it had no right to talk about human rights. “We want ties with the international community on equal footing, not at the level of master and slave. We frame our foreign policy in view of our own national interests,” he said.
The Maulana said that the government was trying to maintain trade ties with other countries in a respectable manner and the dented economy would be put on the track of development again.
He came down hard on the PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “KP has been suffering from ‘Imraniat’ for the last 10 years. After such a long period of rule, they have done nothing for the well-being of the people and the province. After having failed to serve the people, now they are trying to stage the drama of dissolving assemblies. We would not let them hide their failure behind any such dissolution,” he remarked.
The PDM head said at the time when Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal left the government in 2007, the total volume of debts against the province was Rs 78 billion. When Awami National Party (ANP) left the government in 2013, the debt against the province was Rs 117 billion and during the PTI government, the loans crossed Rs 1000 billion.
“Such a long period of the rule should have been utilized for reforms and development. But the situation in the province after the 10 years of PTI rule is that the government is unable to pay salaries to the employees even,” he said.
The Maulana ridiculed Imran’s statement about confessions of his mistakes. “Tell me what decision he (Imran) has made which he later not referred to as his mistake. Soon he would accept the economic debacle of the country as his mistake,” he added. To a question about the resignations of the PTI members, he said it was a mere drama like the one they had staged in the past.