LAHORE: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said the country needs fresh election as the present assembly is extremely fragile.

“I do not believe that the majority is governing the country. Rather, they are some Muslim League members, and I do not think that this government will be able to deliver,” he told a press conference in Multan, on Wednesday.

Maulana Fazl asked the sitting government to resign and hold fresh election. “The army should stay away from the election and no agency should have any connection with the entire electoral process.”

He said the JUI-F had taken a stance against rigging in 2018 too and “did not succumb to any expediency even though they were invited and visited to join the government. We reject rigging now as well and how could they accept it today.”

He said that they did not believe in personal enmity and did not have any such thing with the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in 2018. “We would have joined the government with Muslim League if we preferred politics of self-interest,” he said.

The JUI-F chief said he did not believe the current government would be able to deliver as the situation did not allow it to do so. “The assembly is extremely fragile. I do not think that any majority is governing the country; it is the number of Muslim League members that are governing.”

The JUI-F leader said that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was not part of the government and they were just sitting on the government benches.

Responding to a question about not being named in the Dubai Leaks, Maulana said, “My name has never come up in any scandal. One can check his entire history.” The Maulana urged all political parties to take measures to end a mindset that no one could run a movement in the country without the support of the establishment. He said there was a “mindset that elections will only be held after the approval of the establishment and they (army) will also prepare results of every election. We have to fight this,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2024