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.