Fazl says country belongs to all, not a general; calls for new Charter of Democracy

ISLAMABAD: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, addressing the National Assembly, said, “We are ready to die at your hands, but not at the hands of history.”

He said this country does not belong to any general. It belongs to all of us. Parliament is the representative institution of the people, he said. Tolerance has run out and matters keep worsening, he added.

Call for a new Charter of Democracy

Maulana Fazlur Rehman said, “Come, let us sit at one table and agree a new Charter of Democracy, with both the government and the opposition in it.”

He said that when the long march was heading towards Islamabad, friends from PTI told him they should have some role in it. The next day Rana Sanaullah came to see him and the matter was discussed in detail.

At night, a call came from the Prime Minister’s Office saying the Prime Minister wished to invite him to dinner. He accepted the invitation. Afterwards, the Prime Minister asked him to call off the long march.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that at 10:30pm he received a call from Ishaq Dar saying the cabinet was not agreeing. “We tried to settle the matter properly, but governor’s rule was imposed there, and an emergency too. The government says it has completed the constitutional procedure.”

The JUI-F chief said the government had misused the Constitution. A transfer of power had been brought about by force, he said, and Article 2A had been ignored.

He asked whether conditions in Balochistan were not worse than that, where even commissioners get kidnapped. He said he had heard that the son of the Khan of Kalat had also been kidnapped. “Is the federation succeeding in maintaining Law and Order in the country?” he asked.

He said his party is a party of martyrs. “You taunt me. Our sacrifices were mocked. You do not see my martyrs.” He said that if they turned to violence, it was Pharaoh who had taken the path of violence.

Meanwhile, Speaker Ayaz Sadiq said he would listen to Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s speech and expunge any unparliamentary words. The Speaker expunged one sentence of the Maulana’s from the record.

The JUI-F chief said, “We have not fought for quite some time. Our hands are itching to fight.”

Maulana Fazlur Rehman said a defence agreement is being made somewhere, while Defence Minister Khawaja Asif sits here. Talks are under way in Tehran while the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister are here, he said. “There is some shame, some decency.”

Looking at Khawaja Asif, the Maulana made a remark with a smile, which drew laughter in the House.

He said, “If you want to humiliate us at any cost, we would prefer to die at the hands of the government, not at the hands of history.”