PESHAWAR—Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has described the proposed emergency and governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as an attack on democracy, saying his party will engage with the public and continue its role inside and outside parliament.
Speaking at a press conference in Islamabad, Fazlur Rehman said the prime minister had agreed with him on certain matters but the government later backed away from that understanding. He said the government had contacted him by phone and invited him to dinner, an invitation he accepted.
He said the government wanted the long march to end first, while Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf wanted its founder to be allowed to meet before calling off the march. According to Fazlur Rehman, those demands were between the government and PTI.
Fazlur Rehman said that, as he was acting as a mediator, some matters should be left to the mediator. He told the prime minister he wanted to speak to PTI first. The government’s position, he said, was that the end of the long march should be announced first, while PTI insisted on a meeting with its founder.
He said he spoke to Sohail Afridi, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Shahram Khan Tarakai and Asad Qaiser, who told him they were prepared to end the long march if their demands were accepted.
Fazlur Rehman said he went to meet the prime minister at 6am that morning. The prime minister also called Ishaq Dar to the meeting. Fazlur Rehman said he told the prime minister that if the government was willing in principle to end the long march, PTI’s demand should be accepted.
The prime minister replied that the matter should be left to the government because a cabinet meeting was scheduled for that day. Fazlur Rehman said it was also suggested that the cabinet meeting could be moved from morning to evening if necessary.
At 10:30am, Ishaq Dar called Fazlur Rehman and told him that the cabinet was leaning towards imposing the governor’s rule and declaring an emergency. Fazlur Rehman said he asked for the reason and questioned whether the Balochistan government had not failed as well. He added that the Balochistan government was aligned with the federal government, while the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s narrative was not.
