Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman addresses a press conference in Peshawar on Saturday. Photo: Screengrab
MARDAN:
JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has advised both Pakistan and Afghanistan to revise their positions. He has also called on “armed groups” to abandon violence, noting that war is not a solution to any problem.
“Pakistan and Afghanistan must rethink their approaches,” Fazl said on Sunday while addressing a gathering at Jamia Islamia Babuzai in Mardan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
Pakistan and Afghanistan came to the brink of war after the Afghan Taliban launched simultaneous attacks on Pakistani positions across the long border between the two neighbors on 11 October.
The Pakistani army immediately carried out an effective retaliatory attack, targeting several Afghan positions. Pakistan’s “timely and precise action” destroyed several Afghan border posts and left scores of Afghan soldiers and Khawarij terrorists dead.
On October 18, the two neighbors agreed to an immediate ceasefire during negotiations in Doha. Both countries agreed to end fighting and work towards “lasting peace and stability” in talks brokered by Qatar and Turkey.
Last week, the Afghan Taliban regime once again accused Pakistan of carrying out airstrikes inside its territory, a claim that the Pakistani army strongly denied. Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of supporting illegal groups responsible for terrorism in the country.
Referring to the crisis, the JUI-F chief, whose party has traditionally been seen as very close to the Afghan Taliban, said war is not the solution to any problem.
Fazl lamented that Palestinian blood is dripping from US President Trump’s hands, yet Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is talking about getting Trump a Nobel Peace Prize.
He said the current government has ruined the country’s economy. “This is not the Pakistan the people had hoped for. The nation had sought an Islamic system and religious freedom,” he said.
Fazl said his party wanted a country where there is peace and people can breathe freely. The government must give people their rights.
The JUI-F chief said that the constitution has been turned into a toy and instead of people’s aspirations, the wishes of influential persons are being imposed.
“Legislators were bought to get the 27th constitutional amendment passed; it was passed with a fake majority,” he claimed.
Fazl also claimed that the federal government had put the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project on hold, apparently at the behest of the West.
