Powerful circles want to keep country in their hands: Fazlur Rehman

PESHAWAR: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUIF) chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman on Saturday said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was in full control of the country and was forcing its decisions.

Addressing the inaugural session of the two-day central general council meeting of the party here, the JUIF chief said the country was collapsing while the “powerful circles” still wanted to keep power in their own hands.

He said their criticism of the system was meant for the well-being of the country. “When a country gets bankrupt, rebellion takes place. Some elements waiting for economic collapse do exist in the country, so that they could get take benefit of the situation,” he alleged.

The Maulana came down hard on former prime minister Imran Khan as usual. “We had said long ago that Imran is an agent of foreign countries. He gets money from the US and India. My hard stance about him has proved true now,” he claimed.

The JUIF chief said they would foil the foreign agenda of certain elements at all costs.

The Maulana said that they forged unity among the political forces of the country at a time when the country was confronting serious threats. “Our unity gave the message of country’s safety. My personal opinion was that the movement should be expedited for new elections and formation of a new government. But other leaders were of the opinion that the same assembly with an in-house change should complete the tenure and those having this opinion were in the majority. Therefore, we had to respect their opinion,” he remarked.

He said that he made one thing clear during the movement for change in government that if a government was formed through such majority, it would be dependent on the establishment and would be toppled on its whims.

He said the nation was in need of immediate relief and, therefore, short term policies and projects should be introduced.