- Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s ultimatum
One can see that Maulana Fazlur Rehman is desperate. What worries many, including some among the opposition, are the consequences of the JUI-F chief’s impatience. Nothing short of a government change, and that too urgently, would pacify him. To achieve the aim, he first tried to bring together the estranged PPP and PML-N leaderships. He then worked hard to convince the opposition parties to resign en bloc from the National Assembly in the hope that the move would destabilise the government. Failing to persuade them, the Maulana came up with the idea of street protests to overthrow the government. Fearing that this could lead to throwing the baby out with the bath water, the two major opposition parties expressed reservations. Despaired of others, the Maulana has now himself issued an ultimatum to the government to resign by August or be ready for a march on Islamabad by the JUI-F that could lock down the capital.
What is highly undesirable, is that the JUI-F chief is appealing to religious sentiments to achieve his political goals. He calls his rallies “Namoos-e-Risalat million marches.” This reminds one of the PNA’s anti ZAB agitation named “Nizam-e-Mustafa movement” which ended up in more than a decade of military rule. One can understand people criticising the PTI government for bad economic performance, but accusing it of denigrating the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) is going too far.
While one may differ with the tactics being employed by the government to bring thousands of artful dodgers to the tax net, the task was overdue. To call documentation of the economy a western agenda is aimed at gaining cheap popularity at the expense of national economy.
For nearly a year opposition parties including the JUI-F have been sitting in the National Assembly after expressing reservations about the fairness of the 2018 elections. It is incomprehensible now to start a movement to overthrow the government.
The PTI leadership is itself responsible for the calls being given for a premature government change. A one-sided accountability drive, a vengeful attitude and an attempt to push the opposition to the wall are driving the opposition to take an extremist position. The government has to revise its policy towards the opposition to have peaceful tenure.
