“Government should resign before we reach Islamabad. This government does not have any mandate. The mandate can be seen in our March,” the JUI-F chief said
Islamabad: On Wednesday the anti-government Azadi March caravan led by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Fazlur Rehman and joined by other opposition parties in Pakistan will reach Gujranwala city night, a day ahead of its planned culmination in Islamabad.
Around thousands of people, including the madrasa students and religious party workers marching towards the capital, joined by the convoys of PPP, ANP, and other opposition parties. The demonstration is being held in a bid to topple Imran Khan’s government
Maulana Fazlur Rehman is one of the country’s most seasoned political operators and has dominated the airwaves in recent days with his calls to unseat his old adversary Khan.
The Pakistan prime minister, Imran Khan said, did not win last year’s election, but was “selected” by the powerful security establishment a suggestion denied by Khan but spread widely by Pakistan’s opposition since even before the July 2018 election.
“This movement will continue until the end of this government,” Rehman said ahead of the march. “There is no other way to bring Pakistan back on the democratic path.”
“Government should resign before we reach Islamabad. This government does not have any mandate. The mandate can be seen in our March,” the JUI-F chief said.
The heads the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam is one of the country’s largest Islamist parties is head by Rehman has been leading supporters from across Pakistan for days on an “Azadi (Freedom) March” towards Islamabad, with tens of thousands expected to converge on the capital.
On Wednesday Rehman was in Lahore and set to arrive in Islamabad late Thursday, but so far has refused to clarify what happens next.
In present scenario, Khan himself is familiar with it. As opposition leader in 2014, he organized months of mass protests in Islamabad that failed in a bid to bring down the government.
After mobilizing tens of thousands of madrassa students, JUI-F protests have a history of stirring unrest, and authorities are sealing off the capital’s diplomatic enclave with shipping containers.
A crackdown risks sparking a wider backlash in the Muslim-majority country, where mainstream politicians have long tried to keep the conservative right on the side.
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