LAKKI MARWAT: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said here on Sunday that his political opponents were trying to win elections with the power of their wealth.

Apparently referring to Saifullah brothers, he said that though his rivals were luring people to get money and cast vote in their favour, his party would bury their politics forever in the Feb 8 elections.

Addressing a graduation ceremony at Jamia Halimia in Darra Pezu town, he termed seminaries and politics inseparable and said that JUI-F was the only force, which defeated them in the past and it would repeat the history in the coming elections.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s son Maulana Asjad Mehmood is contesting elections for PK-41. He will also confront former federal minister and an independent candidate of Marwat Qaumi Ittehad Salim Safullah Khan on the sole National Assembly seat from the district.

The seminary’s administrator Mufti Abdul Ghani has recently announced his support to Saifullah brothers and MQI poll aspirants. JUI-F aspirants for PK-105 Munawar Khan and Maulana Mohammad Anwar for PK-106, religious scholars, JUI-F leaders and local elders were also present on the occasion.

Mr Rehman said that provision of jobs, uplift works and fulfillment of other needs were all worldly matters and people should not be displeased with ulema and JUI-F representatives if their needs and demands were not fulfilled by them.

He said that the JUI-F lawmakers performed their real job in assemblies and stopped legislation against the teachings of Islam. “If anyone thinks that JUI-F lawmakers and ulema were silent in assemblies while legislation against the teachings of Islam was being made, he has the right to raise finger on us,” he maintained.

Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2024