ISLAMABAD - Asserting that his party believed that the elections would be held at the given time, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman expressed surprise over the Supreme Court’s decision in which it had ordered elections of the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) assemblies within 90 days. “Today, it is being said that [elections] be held within 90 days as per Constitution. Sometimes, in view of this very Supreme Court, it [the constitutional obligation] was three years… Sometimes it [Supreme Court] allows a person to amend the Constitution unilaterally and today they have set a 90 days target to hold elections at every cost,” he said while addressing a press conference here on Sunday. He sought postponement of the upcoming elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) amida “deteriorated law and order situation” in the country. He further said that the census is also underway in the country and they believe the elections should be held after the census. The general elections in Punjab are scheduled for April 30, while the date for the polls in KP is yet to be announced as Governor Ghulam Ali has not made a decision yet. He added: “We have to make decisions in view of the country’s situation.” He said the basic question is where the Imran Khan government took the state in his three and a half years’ tenure. “Today the IMF is drafting our [country’s] budget… controlling our prices. By signing the agreements, the IMF was authorised to fix rates in the country,” he added. He further said that the state bank was also put under the IMF’s control and it was no longer answerable to the Pakistani authorities. Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that the JUI-F wouldn’t accept the legitimacy of the elections to be held in the light of the SC’s verdict. Fazl said that neither party wanted the interim setup in both KP and Punjab to prolong. At the same time; however, he said that the party had always respected courts, and stood by the Constitution and the state. Fazl was of the view that Imran did not have the courage to go to jail. Fazl who is Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) president alleged that retired lieutenant general Faiz Hameed and former chief justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar were still lobbying for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan, urging the institution to take notice of the matter. JUI-F chief claimed that ideological divisions were being witnessed within the institutions for the first time in history, adding that such things happen when ‘some outsiders’ call the shots. The PDM president also questioned holding of general elections amid ‘rising terrorism’ in the country.
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