ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is hopeful that Jamiate Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman will agree to extend the timing of his scheduled long march on Islamabad by a few weeks.“We have told him that you have mobilised your workers for several months and are fully geared up while the PML-N has not done so. Therefore, we need a few weeks to do the necessary mobilisation,” a senior PML-N leader, who is part of the high-level consultations between the two parties, told The News on condition of anonymity.Leading a party delegation, Maulana Fazlur Rehman has held at least two sessions with PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif and senior party leaders in which the discussions focused on the impending long march. At the same time, incarcerated deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has conveyed to the JUI-F chief through his son-in-law Capt. (retd) Muhammad Safdar that the PML-N will certainly join the protest.The PML-N leader said the JUI-F head has been told that they want the protest to be held in November instead of October as announced by him. He said that Fazlur Rehman was so far inflexible but expressed the hope that he would come around their proposal so that cooperative relationship between the two parties remain smooth and uninterrupted. According to the PML-N stalwart, the party’s Central Working Committee (CWC), meeting on Sep 30, will take a decision on the long march. He said that a Fazlur Rehman led delegation has been requested to attend the CWC session to have a direct interaction with its members. He said that the JUI-F supremo has been reminded that his party had unilaterally announced on its own the decision to protest, which was to be taken by the All Parties Conference (APC).The PML-N leader said that the JUI-F chief has explained that his party was going to organize the protest come what may regardless of the participation of any opposition party in it. He said Fazlur Rehman was in no mood to tolerate the present government further.He said that the JUI-F has been suggested that it would be advantageous for all the opposition parties if the issue of protest was put before the APC, which should take a decision, and then every component should adhere to it. Or, it should be presented to the "Rehber committee" for a decision.Fazlur Rehman has told the PML-N and other opposition parties, which have reservations over his planned agitation, that he has enough street power to make the protest a success single-handed and what he needs is their moral support.The JUI-F head, another PML-N leader said, is disappointed with the kneejerk decision of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), which has announced more than once that it would not participate in any protest where the “religion card” would be used.He said that the PML-N has asked Fazlur Rehman about the precise objectives of the agitation. “If Islamabad is choked, whole Pakistan will suffer,” he said adding that the PML-N always avoids political tactics that damage the economy and disturb the daily life of ordinary people. “We have to avoid the kind of agitation the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) introduced when Pakistan was inflicted monumental losses.”The PML-N leader said that in Sunday’s meeting in Lahore, the two sides mostly took into consideration the overall political situation. The forthcoming protest was also discussed to some extent.To a question, these leaders did not know what Shahbaz Sharif is discussing with Nawaz Sharif during his frequent meetings in Kot Lakhpat Jail Lahore, but they believed that something important was being talked about. They did not elaborate.They did not say it but it could be sensed from their chats that they want to take the approaching protest to November, expecting that the political situation will further crystallize to their advantage as the prevailing logjam has to be broken because it can’t continue more, damaging the country further. They gave the impression that a lot of off-stage developments were taking place, which would materialize in the very near future, and the emerging scenario would break the present deadlock.
09-24-2019, 07:01 PM
JUI-F?s long march on Capital: PML-N presses for extension of protest timing
العرض الشجري