ISLAMABAD: Giving a two-day ‘ultimatum’ to Prime Minister Imran Khan to step down, Emir Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Maulana Fazlur Rehman Friday said that he is willing to talk to ‘state institutions,’ and warned that opposition is not to be blamed if it feels that the state institutions are “patronizing illegitimate rulers.” Addressing a mammoth rally of his ‘Azadi March’, the JUI-F chief gave a two-day ‘deadline’ to Prime Minister Imran Khan to step down “or else they will be forced to think of another strategy”.
“We don’t want confrontations with institutions. We want them to be strong, but we also want them to be impartial. If we feel that the institutions are protecting these ‘illegitimate’ rulers, after the deadline [two days] we should not be stopped from forming an opinion regarding the institutions.”
He also urged ‘institutions’ to explain their position in two days as to whether they are supporting the ‘illegitimate’ rulers or not. “We have already given this ‘illegitimate’ government more than a year that is more than enough. We will not be able to exercise any patience from now onwards. All political forces agree that last year’s July 25 elections were rigged and we don’t recognize the results and this government.”
“I am hearing you, you want to go to the D-Chowk? Nawaz Sharif is hearing you. Asif Zardari is hearing you. Bilawal Bhutto is hearing you, Khawaja Asif is hearing you, Mehmood Khan Achakzai is hearing you. Don’t worry we can go beyond the D-Chowk,” the Maulana told a charged crowd who started chanting ‘D-Chowk’, urging the JUI-F chief to announce moves the protest camp to D-Chowk.
Addressing the protestors from a bulletproof container, Fazl said the people have recorded their verdict and the Prime Minister will have to go home. He asked his followers to stay determined and not to leave the protest venue till the resignation of the PM. “We are in contact with all political leaders and members of Rahbar Committee. If the PM’s resignation does not come in two days, we would announce the next course of action.”
He accused the PTI government of receiving foreign funding saying, “It is the government of thieves. If the economy of a country collapses, its existence is threatened. Imran Khan is Gorbachev of Pakistan.”
Fazl added, “These rulers were claiming that people from abroad would arrive in Pakistan for employment. Only two people came for jobs here – governor State Bank and advisor to the PM on finance – at the behest of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). These rulers were talking about 10 million jobs. But 2.5 million people have lost their jobs, We would not accept the slave economy.”
The JUI-F chief said media is facing curbs and asked the government to lift restrictions on media at the earliest. “If the government fails to lift restrictions, we will also not be bound to abide by any law,” he warned.
Other opposition leaders including PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, Secretary General PML-N Ahsan Iqbal, Khawaja Asif, PkMAP chief Mahmood Achakzai, National Party’s Abdul Malik Baloch, and ANP’s Mian Iftikhar Hussain and Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, among others, were accompanying the Maulana.
“We are peaceful people and want to remain peaceful; otherwise these people have the authority to go and arrest the Prime Minister at his home,” Maulana further warned.
Shehbaz Sharif said that Parliament has the right to change leader of the house and nobody should have any objection over it. He said that the country is facing a war-like situation while the PM instead of uniting the nation has taken the responsibility for mediating between Saudi Arabia and Iran. He said that the time has come to get rid of the country’s current “fake” government led by Prime Minister Imran Khan.
He claimed that PML-N under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif could turnaround the economy of the country within six months which has been ruined by the present government. He also flayed foreign, internal, economic, Kashmir, health and educational policies of the government.
He also said that the combined opposition can stabilize the country’s economy within six months if given a chance, and that he has never seen a worse state of affairs in the country’s 72-year history.
The PML-N leader criticized Prime Minister Imran Khan for inflation, unemployment and poverty, as well as it failure to overcome dengue. “Today people are dying of dengue and the government has deprived people of medicines,” he said.
He said 50,000 people have been affected by dengue this year. “People have lost their lives. And yet Imran Khan calls us the Dengue Brothers”.
Earlier, calling the PM a “puppet”, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that they will not bow down to any ‘dictator’.
“We are not ready to bow before any selector or dictator... The hub of power is people and not the state,” Bilawal said in front of a charged crowd waving flags of the various opposition parties.
He also demanded Prime Minister Imran Khan step down and said: “All opposition parties have gathered at one platform to give a clear message to Prime Minister Khan that the time had come for him to step down”.
Bilawal said that even after 70 years, transparent elections cannot be held in Pakistan, adding that his party’s polling agents were expelled from polling stations during the General Elections 2018.
“Selected government has put pressure on the nation,” said the PPP chairman, adding that people are being ‘economically murdered’.
Meanwhile, life in the federal capital remained paralyzed due to preparations made by the police across the city to avert entry of participants of JUI-F Azadi March into the Red Zone. On the second day of Azadi March in the capital, city police partially opened Islamabad Expressway, Kashmir Highway, 9th Avenue and Jinnah Avenue for traffic.
Police have placed more containers at 9th Avenue and Jinnah Avenue. Police have also shut service road of 9th Avenue and placed containers at metro bus route in order to block entry of people from Rawalpindi in case of any untoward situation.
The authorities further increased deployment of police, Rangers, Frontier Corps (FC) and Frontier Constabulary (FC) in Red Zone housing sensitive installations including Prime Minister Secretariat, Parliament House, Presidency, Supreme Court, Pak-Secretariat, Diplomatic Enclave and other government buildings.
According to sources in Special Branch, 35,000 to 40,000 are present at the venue of the ‘Azadi March’ protest and the number was much higher at the time of Friday prayer.
The number of ANP workers at the venue of protest on Friday witnessed a decrease as compared to Thursday night while the number of PML-N workers increased manifolds. Similarly, very thin presence of PPP workers was witnessed at the JUI-F rally.
Meanwhile Akram Durrani, the Convener Rahbar Committee, an alliance of nine anti-government opposition parties, announced that an important meeting of the committee has been called at the residence of the JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman at Friday night.
He further stated that government constituted negotiation committee under Defense Minister Pervez Khattak has not made any contact with the opposition for any kind of talks. He said that on Thursday he, as convener Rahbar Committee, made a contact with Pervez Khattak and informed him about government’s repeated “violations” of the agreement with opposition parties. He maintained as the government side is “continually violating the terms and conditions of the agreement with the opposition parties,” now the opposition will decide future line of action.
Reuters adds: Fazl had earlier warned of chaos if the government does not step down, but on Friday told the crowd they would decide what action to take if their two-day sit-in at the rally site failed.
He said he did not want confrontation with the military.
“Now this government has to go but we don’t want a collision with institutions,” he said referring to the military.
“We want to see the institutions being impartial.”
Police estimated 35,000 people attended the rally.
Security was tight in Islamabad with the government and diplomatic sector - just a few kilometres from the rally site - sealed off, roads blocked by barriers of shipping containers.
Schools were closed, public transport suspended and internet services interrupted in some areas.
The army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, earlier urged Khan to handle the protest peacefully and avoid violence by both sides, a military spokesman said.
The government has said the protesters will not be allowed to paralyse the capital. Violence could erupt if crowds try to force their way into the sealed-off government sector.
A government spokeswoman said the opposition was talking of protecting democracy but was a threat to it.
“These steps ... are against the rules of Pakistan and tantamount to destroying democratic norms and the constitution,” the spokeswoman, Firdous Ashiq Awan, said on Twitter.
The political strife comes as Khan’s government is struggling with the economy. Khan won the election on promises of breaking Pakistan away from its legacy of corruption and on plans to pull 100 million people out of poverty.
But his government, like many of its predecessors, was forced to turn to the International Monetary Fund for a $6 billion bailout in July.
Inflation is squeezing household budgets and traders this week protested against new tax measures.
Protester Habib ur Rehman, 35, said people were struggling to make ends meet, and he blamed Khan. “My family voted for him thinking he’s a new person and looked sincere,” he said.
“But he’s failed us.”
