ISLAMABAD: After quitting the federal government, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) is seriously considering parting ways with the Pakistan People’s Party-led governments in Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).
Insiders told Pakistan Today on Thursday that the JUI-F had decided to sit on the opposition benches during the forthcoming National Assembly session and it would also move to the other side of the isle in the upcoming Senate session as well.
A JUI-F source revealed that the party would formally move an application asking the National Assembly speaker to allocate separate seats for its members on the opposition benches. “Former federal minister Maulana Attaur Rehman, who had resigned in protest against the sacking of minister for Science and Technology Azam Swati, has also returned his official vehicle, relieved his staff and vacated his office as well,” the source said.
The JUI-F ministers from GB and Balochistan also met JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Thursday and deliberated upon the status of their working relationship with the provincial governments. “Fazl told his party’s ministers that they will soon be informed when to quit,” the source divulged. While Haji Gulbar Khan represents the JUI-F in GB as the minister for Health, Youth Affairs and Ushr and Zakat, the party has two parliamentary secretaries in the GB Assembly. The Balochistan Assembly Deputy Speaker Syed Mutiullah also belongs to the JUI-F besides three other cabinet ministers. Despite repeated attempts, no JUI-F leader could be reached for comment.
Separately, Federal Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar told the media that the PPP had chalked out a strategy to bring the JUI-F back into the government fold. He was optimistic that the PPP would manage to persuade Fazl, emphatically saying that “he will return to the government soon”.
The JUI-F had parted ways with the PPP-led coalition in protest against the prime minister’s decision of sacking Swati for violating his directive and campaigning against PPP’s former Religious Affairs minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi. Reportedly, Fazl’s younger brother Maulana Attaur Rehman had said that the JUI-F wanted an in-house change. However, it could not be confirmed as the phones of all top JUI-F leaders were switched off.
