Fazl asks govt to stop sham accountability

CHITRAL: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam head Maulana Fazlur Rahman on Thursday asked the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government not to test the patience of opposition parties by conducting sham accountability.

"The incumbent government must put a halt to the Pharaoh-style ruling and entangling the nation into chaos and crisis on one pretext or the other to prolong its rule," Fazlur Rahman said while addressing the Khatm-e-Nabuwat Conference at the Parade Ground here. The country, he said, was facing with one of the worst economic condition of its history with a zero growth rate but the rulers were involved in petty issues instead of putting the country on the right track.

"A country cannot withstand with the threat of aggression if its economy is not strong," Fazl said, adding that they had a glaring example of disintegration of USSR in the recent past. The JUI chief advised the rulers to stop victimisation of opponents through revengeful accountability and come with a clean and clear agenda to serve the masses.

He said that today the religion of Islam was being targetted by the anti-Islam forces but the government had become a silent spectator to appease the Western powers. The entire nation, he said, was in a state of chaos due to the rampant corruption, soaring prices and unemployment. "The labour class is the worst affected segment of the society in the prevailing inflation and joblessness," Fazl said and added that policies of the rulers were detrimental to peace and stability of the country. He said the incumbent government came into power through rigged elections. He said that they cannot be intimidated through pressure tactics and termed it a selected government.

The JUI leader blasted the government for excluding Chitral from the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, which was a longstanding demand of the people. "The PTI government had nothing to do with the issues of common man as it had no clear agenda and a line of action," he said. He also condemned the Motorway incident and said that the government had failed to provide protection to the people. "Today, even women are not safe on thoroughfare in the PTI government," he regretted.

The JUI chief also criticised the rulers for its failed foreign policy, saying that time-tested friends like China and Saudi Arabia were not happy with Pakistan. Assailing the foreign, internal and economic policies of the government, Maulana Fazl said that the time had come to get rid of the PTI rulers as soon as possible to save the country and nation. Earlier, JUI leaders Maulana Attaur Rahman, Maulana Attaul Haq Darvesh and Maulana Abdur Rahman addressed the conference.