The Central Amir of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islami-Fazl (JUI-F), Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman, while rejecting formation of national government, on Wednesday said country cannot afford any further delay in holding of the general elections.
He expressed these views while talking with media persons here at the residence of party leader Haji Ghulam Ali. Any further delay in the holding of elections would stir up political environment in the country and will have negative reaction, he added.
JUI-F chief said the idea of forming national government is ill conceived because in a country where opposition parties fail to form a grand alliance, how can they get united over forming a national government. About a question to reports of threat to his life by the extremists, the Maulana denied any such threat, saying he did not feel any danger to his life.
Fazl also criticised the interior ministry for allegedly releasing statements against the MMA, saying the interim set-up should be neutral and impartial. About deteriorating law and order situation in the country, the Maulana said it was the reaction of harsh action by the government. Though, he hastened to add, the JUI-F is opposed to harsh reaction by religious outfits against government actions.
"We advocate for political solution to all problems and advise people to adopt the policy of `negotiations against bullet' (Goli ka Jawab Boli)", said Fazl. All the religious organisations should advocate their viewpoint through peaceful means instead of resorting to suicide bombing and taking arms in their hands. He said the only panacea to prevailing law and order situation is withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan and Iraq.
About apprehensions of rigging in the elections, as expressed by leadership of different political parties, Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman said: "We cannot boycott elections due to such fear and the process should continued as boycott was no solution." He said the terminologies of `transparent election', `impartial elections,' 'free and fair elections' are only used in our country and nowhere in the world.
The MMA, he said, was confident to form the government in the NWFP due to its better performance in the province over last five years and added that the role of religious alliance in the national politics has assumed paramount importance and it will remain so even after the 2008 polls as well.