JUI-F Lakki councillors criticise ‘party hijackers’

PESHAWAR: The district councillors who had been expelled from the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), said on Saturday that they did not rebel against the party but against “party hijackers”.
Talking to The News by phone from Lakki Marwat, district councillors Maulana Asghar Ali and Haji Aftab said the JUI-F had been kept hostage locally by some of the influential elements.
They said their constituencies (PK-74 and PK-75) had been deliberately kept deprived of development schemes.
“The district nazim should have been from our constituency PK-75 as seven members were elected from it compared to four members each from PK-74 and PK-76 constituencies. Still the JUI-F nominated its candidates for district nazim and naib nazim from these two constituencies,” said Haji Aftab.
They said the party’s alliance with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in Dera Ismail Khan was fair but in
Lakki Marwat it was questionable.
They said they did not revolt against the party and its chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman but against certain elements that were using the party platform for their personal gains since long.
They said the district leadership used to impose undemocratic decisions on the members in meetings.
Declining the allegations of having taken bribe from the leaders of six-party alliance, they said they could not even think of doing so, adding they had always offered their services for the party cause.
The expelled JUI-F councillors are planning to call on Chief Minister Pervez Khattak in Peshawar in the near future apparently to cement their alliance in Lakki Marwat.