Maulana Mufti Mehmood was a prominent religious and political leader and had also served Chief Minister of the then-NWFP (now Khyber Pukhtoonkhwah). He was a soft-spoken person. I had covered and heard him a number of times as a journalist.
He had assumed leadership of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) in 1960 and retained it till his demise in 1980. He never hurled foul language or abuses even at his political opponents. During his leadership, JUI had gained political recognition and representation in the national and assemblies.
After the demise of Maulana Mufti Mehmood, his son Fazlur Rehman had assumed leadership of the JUI which due to internal policies had split into two to factions headed by Maulana Samiul Haq as JUI-S and Maulana Fazlur Rehman as JUI-F.
This is to say quite regretfully that Maulana Fazlur Rehman is unlike his illustrious father Maulana Mufti Mehmood who was a gentleman and soft speaking person, to say the least. He is using foul, rough and abusive language against political opponents at public gatherings. This is amply proved by his recent utterances at the opposition parties alliance meetings.
One wonders why he cannot find nice and good words even to criticize Prime Minister Imran Khan duly elected by the people and working for the betterment and socio-economic uplift of the nation and the country, enhancing the image of Pakistan in the comity of nations and more importantly has revived and activated the Kashmir issue pulling it out of the cold storage of the UN where it was lying for decades.
M.Z.RIFAT,
Lahore.