ISLAMABAD: After failing to persuade mainstream opposition parties to attend a multiparty conference, chief of his own faction of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) Maulana Fazlur Rehman deferred the conference on Wednesday.

The Maulana thought the conference would serve to unite the political parties opposed to the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), but the lacklustre response from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led to its postponement.

Maulana Fazl held two media talks at his residence on Wednesday and announced that the proposed conference was being deferred and a PML-N proposal was under consideration by his party.

During his media talk in the evening after the JUI-F parliamentary meeting, the Maulana said that the proposal of the PML-N had been received from the party’s chairman and leader of the opposition in Senate Raja Zafarul Haq.

Top PML-N, PPP leaders refuse to take part in the event

“We have received the PML-N proposal; it says that the parliamentary leaders meet before the conference,” the JUI-F chief said.

However, the Maulana did not respond when asked how he would be able to participate in any meeting of parliamentary leaders as he was neither an MNA nor a senator.

He said that JUI-F’s decision would be conveyed to the PML-N.

The JUI-F chief was also asked if the failure to hold the conference in time was caused either by his hurriedly-made decision or if the opposition parties were too busy in their own affairs. He declined to answer the question and said that his response had been conveyed to both parties and added, “I am not answering these questions now.”

However, during an interview with Geo News the Maulana said that no date for the conference had been finalised, but it was only a proposal that was leaked to media.

“It has now been decided that the top leadership will decide the parameters of the campaign against the government and this meeting would be led by Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif,” he added.

The Maulana said: “The decision of this parliamentary meeting will be conveyed to me to hold the conference and it is time to topple the government for the sake of the masses and country itself.”

He said that the performance of the government was very poor and it was time to finish it off, but acknowledged that the PPP and PML-N leaderships did not agree to this notion and differed over the timing of toppling the government.

He said that there was no such benchmark of 100 days for any government to stay in power. “If the opposition does not become the voice of the masses, then who will?”

In the morning, the JUI-F chief received Senator Zafarul Haq and discussed with him the strategy to be adopted against the government, but it was acknowledged that the top PML-N and PPP leaders would not take part in the conference.

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry told newsmen outside the Supreme Court that the Maulana’s “APC came out to be a balloon without proper air”. He said: “Nowadays Maulana sahib can see stars (sitaray) during the day and Israeli aircraft (taiyaray) at night.”

The minister added: “Let him try and go on; maybe the Maulana will see some success in 10-15 years, but for now people have trusted the PTI and Imran Khan.”

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2018