The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam - Fazl (JUI-F) has warned of a long march to Islamabad with its 2.5 million madressah students if the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) does not end its sit-in in the federal capital. "We have 2.5 million registered students in our madressahs," pointed out JUI-F provincial leader Dr Khalid Mehmood Soomro on Thursday at a protest sit-in. "We will take them all to Islamabad."
The half-kilometre road from Hyderabad Press Club to SSP office remained choked with thousands of JUI-F supporters, who shouted slogans against PTI chief Imran Khan, accusing him of promoting obscenity. Chants of "Down with the agent of the Jewish lobby who is spoiling our youth" echoed. The supporters lambasted Imran Khan for using derogatory language for their party chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman. Soomro said they will not allow some tens of thousands of people to usurp their right of electing their leadership.
"They are ridiculing our religious and cultural values by making girls and women dance with men." He accused Khan of using backdoor channels in order to attain power after having failed to win people's mandate in the general elections. According to Soomro, all of Khan's major demands for investigation against electoral rigging and electoral reforms have been accepted. The JUI-F leaders also demanded arrest of Imran Khan and other party leaders for violating the Red Zone in Islamabad and holding the capital hostage for two weeks.
The speakers approved of the 10 points laid down by the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT). However, they did not support the way the PAT is forcing the government to accept its demands. JUI-F provincial naib ameer Muhammad Saleh Sajawali said that Imran Khan is inciting people against the state. He claimed that Khan has failed to deliver in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The demonstrators passed a resolution calling upon the government to charge Imran Khan with treason and order his arrest. The JUI-F supporters also held demonstrations in various other districts.