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Thursday March 28, 2024

JUI-F unlikely to drift away from govt

ISLAMABAD: Jamiate Ulemae Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, though estranged from the government due to amendments in the Constitution and the Pakistan Army Act (PAA) aimed at creation of military courts, has still kept the window of a settlement open.His sound and fury apart, he has still not burnt

By Tariq Butt
January 10, 2015
ISLAMABAD: Jamiate Ulemae Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, though estranged from the government due to amendments in the Constitution and the Pakistan Army Act (PAA) aimed at creation of military courts, has still kept the window of a settlement open.
His sound and fury apart, he has still not burnt the boats and his relations have not hit rock bottom otherwise he would have instantly withdrawn his two ministers – Akram Durrani and Abdul Ghafoor Haideri from the federal cabinet. He has not even hinted at quitting the ruling coalition.
Fazl has obviously scoffed at the government for not taking him into confidence while preparing the amendments but at the same time he has observed a considerable restraint in his criticism. He has not gone overboard.
However, his approach or afterthought has been inconsistent for the simple reason that he did not put up the kind of stiff resistance to the establishment of military courts in the three mega conferences of parliamentary leaders that he started showing when the government wanted to rush the amendments through the parliament following the parliamentary consensus. Already, it was a day late for different reasons.
Scenario might have been different had Fazlur Rehman demonstrated guts during the three grand meetings. He had expressed his reservations but not opposed the amendments the way he has been expressing he has been doing afterwards.
It is clear that Fazlur Rehman doesn’t want to say goodbye to the government but simultaneously has no plan to give up his core constituency, the committed religious lobby, at any cost. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also doesn’t desire to lose the JUI-F under all circumstances. He doesn’t want to unnecessarily open another front when the challenge posed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is still not completely over though it has substantially subsided.
The JUI-F chief’s threat to also stage protest at the D-Chowk is ominous. He has the power to gather thousands of students of a large number of religious seminaries, spread all over Pakistan. Even Islamabad and Rawalpindi have many seminaries, which will readily provide the manpower to any protest organised by Fazlur Rehman.
The primary purpose of meeting of Punjab Chief Minister with the JUI-F chief on Friday was to woo him into accepting the amendments in the Constitution and the PAA since they are now law. This was indeed a forceful effort. Obviously, Shahbaz Sharif met him with the approval of the prime minister.
Fazlur Rehman’s demand that the amendments should be altered accommodating his points is very difficult to accept if not totally impossible. Any consensus on changing these amendments is safely ruled out as all the parliamentary forces except the JUI-F and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) had fully supported them.
The two dissenting parties have altogether sixteen members of the National Assembly. The JUI-F also has seven senators while JI has no member in the upper house of Parliament. Thus, these parties are in a clear minority to force any modification in the amendments. They may have street power to create a scene but lack any respectable parliamentary strength for lawmaking.
Of the JUI-F and JI, the former is very staunchly opposed to the amendments and is building up a campaign with the support of the administrators of the religious seminaries while the latter has not shown as much enthusiasm against them although the two will be part of any grand alliance on the pattern of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal against the new legislation that may be made if there was no agreement with the government.
On the other hand, the parliamentary parties supporting the amendments want the changes to be implemented without any loss of time. Among them, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement is very forceful and on the forefront. As far as the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz is concerned, there is no looking back and it is poised to firmly deal with the terrorists. The necessary paperwork is being currently done to kick-start trial of terrorists by the military courts.
However, an important aspect of the controversy fueled by Fazl and JI is that their opposition to the amendments would have an adverse impact on the drive against terrorists and gives the impression of political division. However, whatever they say and do the trials by the military courts would begin in a couple of weeks as per the amendments.