HARIPUR, Jan 21: Former NWFP chief minister Akram Khan Durrani has said that Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman is the only politician who has the capacity to steer the country out of the prevailing crises.

“The Muslim Umma has great expectations from him (Fazl), who can ease the tension in the tribal belt, bring about peace in Afghanistan and carry out negotiations with India. So his coming to power is need of the hour,” Durrani declared while speaking at a public gathering at Chowk Syedan Khalabat township here on Monday.

Criticising the role of President Pervez Musharraf, former premiers Shaukat Aziz and Zafar Ullah Khan Jamali for what he called their submission to the American’s dictates, he claimed that it was MMA that opposed the Americans and their cronies in Pakistan.

He claimed that Fazlur Rehman was the only person who could prevent the PML-Q from making it to power once again and bring about development in the neglected parts of the country. He went on to say that except MMA no other party including PPP, PML-N and ANP had the solution to the problems of common man.

The former chief minister and MMA leader said that despite the fact that Hazara division did not vote for MMA in the last election but the former carried out uplift schemes to the tune of millions of rupees in the region.

Urging the people to vote for MMA during the coming election, he claimed that his party would not only form provincial government but also the central government after Feb 18 general elections.

Accusing former federal minister Amir Muqam of deserting MMA, Mr Durrani said that had the people like him not changed their loyalty the MMA was very much in position to form government at the centre too.