JUI-F chief criticises sit-in for Fata status change

NOWSHERA: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Monday that those staging a sit-in in Islamabad to demand the change in the Fata status were activists of political parties and did not represent the tribespeople.

Speaking at the Mujahid Khan Al-Hussaini Conference here, the Maulana said political workers were presented as tribespeople to serve the vested interests. He said some political commentators and self-proclaimed champions of the rights of the tribal people who claimed to be impartial were also using the electronic media for twisting the facts and playing with the sentiments of tribespeople. 

"We know who the real organisers of the sit-in are and whose agenda is being promoted," he said. The JUI-F leader said it was a sensitive matter and needed to be handled carefully and with maturity as sit-ins were no solution to a problem. The Maulana said the JUI-F could organise a big sit-in but would not resort to such a practice as blocking roads was not the right thing to do. He said the country cannot afford confrontation and the situation demanded politicians and state institutions to demonstrate maturity. 

The JUI-F chief said the US and India had joined hands against the multi-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and came in the open in opposing the fortune changing project. He said the statement of the US that the CPEC route was passing through disputed territories was unfounded and part of a conspiracy of America and its allies to fail the project. 

Fazlur Rehman said foreign forces were trying to create a political crisis in the country as it was a primary tool to destabilise a country. He said a power struggle was going on in the state institutions and no one was paying heed to the greater external challenges faced by the country. 

The JUI-F chief criticised the decision of General (retd) Pervez Musharraf to join the US alliance after the 9/11 attacks and said it caused huge losses to the country. He said now the US was accusing Pakistan of sponsoring terrorism. "We are paying the price of wrong decisions of Pervez Musharraf," he added. 

Criticising the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, the Maulana said it failed to honour the commitments it had made with the people. The JUI-F chief alleged that some foreign forces brought the PTI to power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to further their hidden agenda. "The PTI was imposed on the province and we know who are behind the party," he added.

The Maulana said the people of the province were religious-minded and the PTI chief Imran Khan was launched to promote vulgarity and damage the very fabric of Pakhtun society. He said the party promised to establish new industries in the province but instead existing factories had been closed down, let alone setting up new ones.

The Maulana said the PTI had pledged to construct 300 dams but claimed that instead of building new, already constructed dams had run dry. He said the party ruined the education and health departments and the province was facing severe financial crisis.