‘PTI’s long march has failed’: Maulana Fazlur Rehman

ISLAMABAD: JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman Sunday deemed the PTI’s long march a “failure” and said that it cannot be revived now.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Fazl — who is also the chief of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) — asked the coalition government to “not show any mercy to PTI Chairman Imran Khan and his party” following the turn of events in the wake of the assassination attack on Khan.

“I ask the government to be strict. No one should be allowed to toy with Pakistan. There will be no leniency with them now,” the PDM chief said, adding that Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah is ready to deal with PTI.

‘Drama being staged’

Speaking about the assassination attempt on Khan, Fazl said: “A new drama was plotted. When the news first came, we were worried and expressed sympathy. But now we’ve realised that [Imran Khan] has left Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan behind in acting.”

The JUI-F chief added that the PTI chairman has lost sympathy after the drama he staged. He questioned the number of bullets fired at Khan, those that hit him, and whether he was hit on both legs.

“Fragments of bullets were hit. Where did these fragments come from?” Fazl said while highlighting details of the attack as explained by PTI.

He added that there are fragments of a bomb, but not of bullets.

The JUI-F chief also spoke about Khan’s reluctance to go to another hospital and emphasised that the former premier is lying all along.

“When hit by the bullet, he reaches Lahore in one day. Treatment for bone is being carried out at a cancer hospital. The man is constantly lying even today,” he said adding that the nation is being put through anxiety and confusing everyone by using the incident.

PDM’s head maintained that Punjab’s government was responsible for the security of the long march in the province and insisted that Khan’s lies should be investigated.

“Accusations are being hurled at important figures without evidence,” Fazl said while criticising Khan and his party for blaming military officials for the attack.