JUI-F marchers to reach Islamabad on 31st, says Fazl

ISLAMABAD: JUI-F Ameer Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Wednesday changed protest programme saying the participants of Azadi March will reach federal capital on October 31 to move further to D-Chowk.

Talking to media here, he said the Azadi March will start on October 27 but would take three to four days for workers from different parts of the country to arrive in the federal capital.

He told newsmen that the decision to begin the march on October 27 was taken as his party wanted to express solidarity with people of Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK).

Kashmiris observe Black Day on October 27 to mark the occupation of India on Kashmir when the Indian troops landed in Srinagar, the same day in 1947.

Meanwhile, the JUI-F sought permission from the Islamabad administration to hold Azai March at D-Chowk Islamabad on October 27.

According to a letter written to Chief Commissioner, Islamabad, the JUI-F will hold the march on October 27 while exercising its democratic and constitutional right under Article 16 and 17 against the government.

The letter said the march will be led by JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and attended by senior party leadership and a large gathering of party workers and supporters. It may be pointed out here that Interior Minister Ejaz Shah recently said that Section 144 is imposed in Red Zone of the federal capital.

Earlier, Maulana Fazlur Rehman chaired a meeting of party’s senior leaders to discuss arrangements for the Azadi March and sit-in. The meeting, besides others, was attended by Senators Maulana Attaur Rehman and Talha Mahmood, MNAs Agha Mahmood Shah and Mufti Abdus Shakoor and others.

It was decided that the party workers would be directed that they should not reach Islamabad before October 31 and should converge at Tarnol before proceeding further to the final destination in the capital.

Meanwhile, Federal Interior Minister Ijaz Shah called Maulana Fazlur Rehman-led Azadi March towards the capital, an act of suicide.

The federal interior minister said that the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl chief hopefully will not march with his followers towards Islamabad.

On Tuesday, it emerged that all the opposition parties’ in the Rehbar Committee had decided to take part in Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s Azadi March protest that is due to begin on October 27.

The decision was made at a meeting of Rehbar Committee, a united front of nine opposition parties.