Azadi March sit-in: Fazl not going to leave capital empty-handed

ISLAMABAD: Believing that Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman is going to leave Islamabad empty-handed, winding up the Azadi March is a naïve approach, said senior leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in private discussions with The News.

“He will lose a lot if he wraps up the protest without concrete results; and he will never do that,” a top PML-N stalwart, who is part of the deliberations of the Rehbar Committee of the opposition with the government’s negotiating team led by Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak, said. “Fazlur Rehman will not hesitate to move forward to give a fillip to his agitation if he was pushed to the wall by not accepting his demands,” he said.

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He made it clear that both the PML-N and PPP indeed support Fazlur Rehman’s demands but are keen to avoid any violent scene between the JUI-F supporters and law enforcement agencies.

A PPP leader said that there was no doubt that his party stands with Fazlur Rehman on his key demands like Prime Minister Imran Khan’s resignation, fresh general elections, polls without the involvement of the army and strict adherence to the Constitution.

He said that the situation might take an ugly turn if the government paid a lip service to the opposition’s demands and just passed time by keeping the other side engaged in dialogue so that the JUI-F protesters are fatigued and forced to depart from the federal capital. “There should be a sense of urgency on the part of the official interlocutors.”

Talking about the opposition to the sit-in beyond the present venue, both the PML-N and PPP leaders said they did not wish to follow the precedent set by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in 2014.

“Two wrongs do not make a right,” one of them commented. He said that from day one Fazlur Rehman kept his cards close to his chest and what he had told the other opposition parties was that the Azadi March would reach Islamabad on Oct 31 and they all should participate in it. “Beyond that, we never have any idea about his plan. The JUI-F chief is the groom of the show and we are just participants of the [wedding] party.”

They said that if the government dragged its feet on accepting the major demands, the JUI-F chief will not be stuck to the H-9 ground and might decide to move forward.

They said that Fazlur Rehman was dispirited a bit due to the absence of the key leaders of the PML-N and PPP from important opposition discussions but became buoyed up when former Speaker Ayaz Sadiq and ex-Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf not only attended the Azadi March sit-in on Monday night but also made hard-hitting speeches.

“During the All Parties’ Conference (APC) deliberations, when one of these leaders told the JUI-F chief that they would be going to the H-9 ground, he became happy,” they said.

It was after that Fazlur Rehman said in his speech that the rumours hinting at disunity in the opposition parties stand quashed and they all are one behind the ongoing protest. He also said that since the Azadi March has come in the capital in the wake of decision of all the opposition parties, any other decision that it will take will be made by them collectively.

The PML-N leader said that there was a strong possibility that the top stalwarts of his party and the PPP like Shahbaz Sharif and Bilawal would address the protest once again if and when the two negotiating teams would reach an accord on the demands of the opposition parties.

He said that if the two sides arrive at an agreement, further talks would be held between the experts of the two sides on poll reforms, strengthening of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), amendments in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) law to do away with the vindictive accountability of politicians and several other issues.

Asked whether the government team was sincere in breaking the logjam, the opposition leader said that its genuineness was being tested during every round of talks. He said if the unanimously formed parliamentary committee to probe election rigging had seriously worked and prepared findings, much of the present crisis would have been resolved.

But sadly, he said, the body failed to hold even a single meaningful session. In its very first meeting, one of the federal ministers had objected to its creation by referring to Article 225 of the Constitution, which says no election to the Senate, and National and Provincial Assemblies shall be called in question except by an election petition presented to a tribunal.

He pointed out that Pervaiz Khattak, who heads the parliamentary committee, has also now admitted that he was never pressed by the opposition to convene its meeting. He said the opposition parties had consciously worked for the constitution of this forum because they wanted the matter of electoral manipulation to be investigated by the Parliament rather than any other forum.

The PML-N leader said that in view of the deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s continued critical condition, Maryam Nawaz was unlikely to address the Azadi March leaving her father alone in the hospital. She is focused on his treatment.