JUI-F leader claims PPP was leading no-confidence motion against PTI chief n Fazl calls meeting with PTI delegation positive in current circumstances.

ISLAMABAD  -  Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said Thursday that the no-confidence motion against former prime minister Imran Khan was tabled on the direc­tives of the then Army Chief General (retired) Qamar Javed Bajwa.

In an interview with a private news chan­nel aired late Thursday, Fazl, who was the chief of the multi-party alli­ance Pakistan Demo­cratic Movement (PDM) responsible for remov­ing Khan, said that he was personally against the no-confidence move. “But if I had said no despite insistence of other parties, then an impression would’ve been given that I ‘saved’ the PTI founder.”

During his interview, Fazl further said that while the Pakistan Peo­ples Party (PPP) was running the movement for a no-confidence mo­tion, Lt Gen (retd) Faiz Hamid told him that he (Fazl) could do what­ever he wanted, but within the system. 

The JUI-F chief claimed said Hamid also told him that he could not “do anything outside the system and every move should be made inside the par­liament, not on the streets. “But I reject­ed his directions,” he said, but noted that later on, the Baloch­istan Awami Party (BAP), Muttahida Qa­umi Movement-Pa­kistan (MQM-P), and others left the PTI-led government. “When they said that [the an­ti-PTI] is now in ma­jority, I had to agree with them otherwise it would’ve been said that I helped save Im­ran Khan,” the JUI-F chief, who has reject­ed February 8 election results, said. Fazl said that PML-N’s prime minister candidate Shehbaz had paid him a visit to speak about government forma­tion, but he rejected the idea and instead called on the Nawaz-led party to join him in the opposition. “But Shehbaz left without responding to my of­fer [...] for me, the par­liament has lost its credibility. If the es­tablishment this that the elections were fair, then the May 9 narra­tive has been buried.” Fazl also stated, “I was not in favour of the no-confidence move. Just for my friends, I sacrificed my opin­ion.” He emphasised his preference to pro­ceed with the “pow­er of the movement”, noting that the PPP was spearheading the no-confidence motion. Meanwhile, Leaders of the PTI and Jami­at Ulema-i-Islam-Fa­zl addressed a press conference in Islam­abad after talks be­tween their delega­tions. JUI-F leader Hafiz Hamdullah has said the party wel­comed a delegation of the PTI led by Asad Qaiser for talks. He said party chief Fa­zlur Rehman declared the meeting “positive” in the current circum­stances. “Basically it was discussed that the case brought by the PTI on what happened in February 8 elec­tions, was also a case from before of the JUI.” He said Rehman had already announced that the party rejected the elections and did not represent the na­tional mandate, add­ing that the PTI dele­gation presented the same case.