Fazlur Rehman seeks state institutions’ support for nascent government

KARACHI: Questioning the Supreme Court suo moto notice on apprehensions that criminal justice might be undermined by people in positions of authority, the chief of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Maulana Fazlur Rehman, on Thursday demanded “solid and full support” of the state institutions for the newly placed coalition government to bring the country out of crises “created under the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf rule”.

Calling it crucial to make public his complaint against the apex court move’s, the JUI-F chief, however, was confident unlike other leaders of the Shehbaz Sharif government that the country would be back on track once the unity among coalition partners and support from the state institutions sync with each other.

Addressing Taqaddus Haram-i-Nabwi Conference at main Preedy Street under the shadows of Quaid e Azam’s mausoleum, Fazl criticised the PTI chairman and ousted prime minister Imran Khan for deliberately “creating a chaos” through fake narratives and propaganda.

“With due respect, I want to make a complaint and raise a question for the respectable apex court and its judges,” he said and added: “Why you took suo moto notice when the chief executive [PM Shehbaz] of the country using his legitimate authority decided to transfer few FIA [Federal Investigation Agency] officers? What prompted you to take suo moto notice? Who asked you to do this? You never took notice when one of your own judges in the previous government was raising so many questions. You never took a notice when the former FIA chief Bashir Memon disclosed about the pressure from Imran Khan for false cases against the opposition leaders. Through such moves, you are undermining your respect and dignity.”

He said the coalition government was facing immense pressure challenges due to “mess created by Imran Khan” which could only be handled with unity of the “democratic political forces” and “support from the state institutions”.

“If the state institutions don’t show support, the government would not be able to keep its confidence lifted,” he said.

“We can only come out of these crises when the state institutions and true democratic forces come up with coordinated cooperation. I know that some crises are being created, but we don’t need to get panicked. We don’t need to come under pressure. We don’t need to get impressed by such rallies [of Imran Khan]. Things would take time, but ultimately, this country would be back on track.”

He called the former prime minister “an agent of Israeli lobby” who was “placed” to change the country’s geography. To strengthen his argument, he referred to the 2016 Panama Case that led to fall of the then premier Nawaz Sharif.

“Two things are crucial to change any country’s geography,” the JUI-F chief said and added: “The first thing is political instability and then the economic instability. The Panama Case and then ouster of Nawaz was staged to bring political instability. Then the forces working on this agenda placed Imran Khan as Pakistan’s prime minister which led to economic instability. The nation is thankful to the character showed by the country’s political leadership which failed this conspiracy and brought down the Imran Khan government through parliamentary process.”

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2022