MINGORA: The chief of his own faction of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, said on Sunday that certain elements, at the behest of the United States, had started making a hue and cry in the name of reforms in tribal areas.

Addressing a public meeting in Mingora’s Grassy Ground, he said these elements had raised the issue of merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for political gains, but actually they had nothing to do with the poor masses of tribal areas.

He said that the people were threatening to hold long march and stage sit-in in Islamabad. “If the JUI-F started protest demonstration, the entire Islamabad will be locked down,” he warned.

Maulana Fazl claimed that his party foiled a conspiracy to make amendment to the provision of Khatm-i-Nabuwwat declaration in the recently passed electoral law.

Alleges KP govt planned to obtain funds from Jewish lobby for onward distribution among clerics

He alleged that some elements had tried to make changes in the declaration of Khatm-i-Nabuwwat clandestinely.

“By the grace of Allah, the JUI-F foiled the conspiracy and restored the provision of Khatm-i-Nabuwwat in the electoral law in 24 hours,” he said, but did not disclose names of the conspirators.

Commenting on the recent statement of a senior US general about the China-Pakis­tan Economic Corridor, Maulana Fazl said the United States and India had joined hands to make the project controversial.

He said that some senior officials of the US administration had threatened Pakistan with dire consequences. He termed the Panama Leaks issue an international conspiracy against Pakistan to destabilise the country, but his party would foil nefarious designs of the foreign powers and their agents.

The JUI-F chief came down hard on the KP government and said the PTI had pushed the province back to backwardness. He said that important departments like police, health and education were on the verge of collapse in the province.

Maulana Fazl said PTI chairman Imran Khan had admitted failure. He said the KP government had planned to obtain funds from the Jewish lobby for onward distribution among khateebs and imams of mosques.

He said that on the one hand the government was collecting electricity bills from mosques and, on the other, it offered funds to khateebs.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2017