Fazl vows to go ahead with Azadi March at all costs

PESHAWAR: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) chief Fazlur Rehman on Saturday likened his upcoming ‘Azadi’ March to a ‘fight to the finish’, which he said would “only end when the government falls”.

“The entire country will be our battleground,” he told reporters at a press conference.

“Our strategy will not remain stagnant. We will keep changing it to cope with [any] situation,” he said. He insisted that a “flood of people from all over the country” was coming to join the march.

When asked whether he has been able to garner the support of other opposition parties, he said that he “hope(s) to see them” in the march. He added that since all opposition parties agreed that last year’s general elections were “fake” and that a reelection should be held, they should all be “on the same page and same stage”.

The PML-N has urged Rehman to delay the march, while PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had yesterday said that he would hold a party meeting to decide “the extent to which [they] can help” Rehman.

Rehman, in his press talk today, said that while he was not afraid of being arrested, such a move would fan the protesters’ anger against the government.

In response to a question about the government’s claim that the JUI-F chief was “using” children studying in seminaries against the government, Rehman alleged that the rulers were trying to deny the students their democratic right.

Moreover, he claimed, the proportion of seminary students would be minimal, as people from every walk of life were joining the march.

“We have stated our policy. We do not want to clash with institutions, that we want to respect them.

The JUI-F chief denied that there was any similarity between the sit-ins held by the now-ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Pakistan Awami Tehreek’s Tahirul Qadri and Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan’s Khadim Rizvi, saying he was leading a march for the “independence” of the public.

He was visibly annoyed when asked if the party was collecting donations for its march and said: “Why wouldn’t we? It is our right, where else will we get money from? Why is there so much noise over this?

“We are not being funded by any western country. We are asking our workers, friends.”

Jamiat Ulema-e Islam (F) chief Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman has announced to hold ‘Azadi March’ in Islamabad from October 27.