Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman addresses a press conference in Peshawar on Saturday. Photo: screenshot
MARDAN:
JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has advised both Pakistan and Afghanistan to review their attitudes. He has also called on “armed groups” to abandon violence, pointing out that war is not a solution to any problem.
“Pakistan and Afghanistan must re-evaluate their approaches,” Fazl said on Sunday while addressing a meeting at Jamia Islamia Babuzai in Mardan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
Pakistan and Afghanistan were on the brink of war after the Afghan Taliban launched simultaneous attacks on Pakistani outposts along the long border between the two neighbors on October 11.
The Pakistan Army immediately carried out an effective retaliatory attack on several Afghan positions. Pakistan’s “timely and precise action” destroyed multiple Afghan border posts and left dozens of Afghan soldiers and Khawarij terrorists dead.
On October 18, the two neighbors agreed to an immediate ceasefire during talks in Doha. Both countries agreed to stop fighting and work for “lasting peace and stability” in talks brokered by Qatar and Türkiye.
Last week, the Afghan Taliban regime once again accused Pakistan of carrying out airstrikes inside its territory, a claim the Pakistani military vehemently denied. Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of supporting illegal groups responsible for terrorism in the country.
Referring to the crisis, the JUI-F chief, whose party has traditionally been considered very close to the Afghan Taliban, said war is not the solution to any problem.
Fazl lamented that Palestinian blood is dripping from US President Trump’s hands, but Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is talking about getting Trump the Nobel Peace Prize.
He said the current government has destroyed the country’s economy. “This is not the Pakistan that people expected. The nation had sought an Islamic system and religious freedom,” he said.
Fazl said his party wanted a country where there is peace and people can breathe freely. The government must give people their rights.
The JUI-F chief said that the Constitution has become a toy and instead of the aspirations of the people, the wishes of influential people are imposed.
“Legislators were bought to achieve the approval of the 27th Constitutional Amendment; it was approved with a false majority,” he stated.
Fazl also claimed that the federal government had suspended the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, apparently at the behest of the West.
