JUI-F wants opposition parties to unite for polls

PESHAWAR: Considering early elections a panacea for all problems faced by the country, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) has urged all opposition parties to join hands to work out a plan for polls and pressure the government accordingly.

“We think free, fair and transparent election at the earliest is the solution to all the problems. It should be done in a legal and constitutional way. We would never support any extra-constitutional step for change,” said Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, the JUI-F central secretary general, while addressing a hurriedly called press conference here on Monday evening.

The JUI-F wants to celebrate 2012 as the year of election, but for the purpose all the opposition parties would have to unite and work out a unanimous solution with regard to the month and date for the elections, he said, adding that the JUI-F had contacted other opposition parties, mainly the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, for this purpose.

The Maulana said the government had failed on all fronts. “Robberies are taking place on national highways, law and order situation is presenting the worst picture in the country’s history, the economic situation has worsened and corruption has broken all records,” the JUI-F leader said. “One of the main reasons of the challenges facing the country is the support to the US-led alliance in the so-called war against terror. Even now there is time for the rulers to take the right decisions, otherwise it would become difficult for them to present the next budget,” he stressed. Ghafoor Haideri was in the provincial capital to condole the death of the sister-in-law of Abdul Jalil Jan, provincial secretary information of JUI-F who was present at the news conference. Ghafoor Haideri said the JUI-F had supported the government in the All Parties Conference convened by Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, but the decisions taken in that conference for national security and sovereignty haven’t been implemented. He said the government made a welcome decision after the attack on check-posts in Mohmand Agency by cutting off supply line to the Nato troops in Afghanistan. The government is still sticking to that decision, he said, adding that the JUI-F would never allow resumption of the supplies. “We can even burn the Nato containers if the government dared to resume the Nato supplies,” he declared.

We would happily sit on opposition benches: Imran

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan says he is happy to go into the opposition if his “tsunami” of popular support fails to bring him a landslide victory at elections, now widely expected within months.

“The ‘tsunami’ is ready. We will be ready. Obviously it suits our party... if this government goes for another six months,” he said.”We would happily go into the opposition if we can’t form a government because basically it’s a battle between forces of status quo and forces of change,” Imran Khan told AFP.

“I think it’s the endgame because the government — it’s been openly defying the Supreme Court,” he said, adding: “I don’t think the Supreme Court is going to back down. They’ve called the prime minister dishonest so really in any decent democracy he should have resigned by now and then asked to go back to the people.”

The PTI chief further stated: “No one wants martial law in this country, none of us want it. I think the time for martial law is over in Pakistan.”

Imran Khan insists his relationship with the generals is a “sensible” one that would put him clearly in charge should his party sweep to power. “If I’m the prime minister, if I have the responsibility, I have the authority,” he said. Imran rules out forming a coalition with any of the “status quo” parties he considers venal and corrupt. Instead he is confident that his prescription for Pakistan — unbuckling the country from the war on terror alliance with the United States by refusing foreign aid and launching a massive austerity drive, will succeed.

But political commentators say Imran’s vision of a united Pakistan free from mafia and liberated from foreign influence is a pipe dream playing to a receptive crowd as the country faces renewed political uncertainty. Journalist Najam Sethi said Imran Khan’s message feeds the mindset of the majority of disaffected lower middle class Pakistani voters.

We would happily sit on opposition benches: Imran

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan says he is happy to go into the opposition if his “tsunami” of popular support fails to bring him a landslide victory at elections, now widely expected within months.

“The ‘tsunami’ is ready. We will be ready. Obviously it suits our party... if this government goes for another six months,” he said.”We would happily go into the opposition if we can’t form a government because basically it’s a battle between forces of status quo and forces of change,” Imran Khan told AFP.

“I think it’s the endgame because the government — it’s been openly defying the Supreme Court,” he said, adding: “I don’t think the Supreme Court is going to back down. They’ve called the prime minister dishonest so really in any decent democracy he should have resigned by now and then asked to go back to the people.”

The PTI chief further stated: “No one wants martial law in this country, none of us want it. I think the time for martial law is over in Pakistan.”

Imran Khan insists his relationship with the generals is a “sensible” one that would put him clearly in charge should his party sweep to power. “If I’m the prime minister, if I have the responsibility, I have the authority,” he said. Imran rules out forming a coalition with any of the “status quo” parties he considers venal and corrupt. Instead he is confident that his prescription for Pakistan — unbuckling the country from the war on terror alliance with the United States by refusing foreign aid and launching a massive austerity drive, will succeed.

But political commentators say Imran’s vision of a united Pakistan free from mafia and liberated from foreign influence is a pipe dream playing to a receptive crowd as the country faces renewed political uncertainty. Journalist Najam Sethi said Imran Khan’s message feeds the mindset of the majority of disaffected lower middle class Pakistani voters.