Govt announces action against Fazlur Rehman’s stick-wielding platoon

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has announced initiating legal action against Jamiat Ulemae Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s stick-wielding army, the constitution of which it says is in “violation of both the law of the land and the National Action Plan (NAP)”.

Volunteers of the religio-political party’s Salar Force earlier this week presented a guard of honour to Fazl, taking an oath to safeguard their leadership even at the cost of their lives.

The demo came as the JUI-F gears up to take on the federal government as part of its Azadi March to Islamabad on October 31; with plans of locking down the capital in protest against the “fake” Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.

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Reacting to the march and the creation of the force, KP Information Minister Shaukat Yousafzai on Wednesday warned the JUI-F against stick-wielding, uniformed workers marching on the roads.

“When you are marching on roads in uniforms it means that you are erecting a force. This is a violation of the NAP and will not be tolerated,” Yousufzai said.

“I know who is pushing [Fazlur] Rehman; money is pushing him. He is threatening institutions, he is trying to use seminary students,” the minister said.

The information minister added that the JUI-F chief was struggling to get incarcerated former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and former president Asif Ali Zardari out of jail.