PESHAWAR: Taking a jibe at PTI Chairman Imran Khan, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Sunday said that the former premier was marching towards Islamabad “for no reason.”<\/p>\n
Khan has announced that he will be leading the PTI’s much-awaited long march from Peshawar and will be\u00a0reaching Islamabad on May 25. He has also demanded a date for the election as well as the dissolution of the assemblies.<\/p>\n
Addressing a press conference in Peshawar, the PDM chief said that no one could break the record of the long march set by his party, the JUI-F, during Khan\u2019s tenure.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are coming to Islamabad for no reason. A long march does not even hold the importance of two\u00a0paisas,\u201d Fazl said, adding that people would be \u201cmad\u201d to respond to the PTI chairman’s call for the long march.<\/p>\n
Talking about the economic challenges the country was facing, the PDM chief claimed that Pakistan was not heading towards bankruptcy but was already bankrupt because of the policies of the previous, PTI-led government.<\/p>\n
\u201cProblems that mounted over the last four years are being asked to be fixed within four days,\u201d said Fazl, adding that the \u201cbiggest challenge\u201d before the new government was figuring out how to uplift the economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to make such a situation that China gets on board,\u201d Fazl opined, adding that Khan\u2019s economic experts had themselves warned that the rupee-dollar difference would cross the 200 mark.<\/p>\n
He also said that this was the impact of Khan\u2019s policies. “In difficult times, institutes and politicians need to be on the same page to solve the issues.”<\/p>\n
Fata\u2019s 125-year-old importance being changed<\/p>\n
The PDM chief also spoke about the issues being faced by the tribal people in the merged districts (erstwhile FATA) and claimed that the \u201c125-year-old\u201d history of the region was being changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey want to change the importance of FATA,\u201d adding that the region was promised 100 billion after the merger but is yet to receive even half of the sum.<\/p>\n
Recalling the law formulated to change the status of FATA, the JUI-F chief said that he had recommended to the then PML-N government that they should hold a referendum on the matter but his suggestion was rejected.<\/p>\n
He also stated that when he was raising objections to the merger as he was told that his party does not represent the tribal areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere work has happened is not even 1% of the tribal areas. Mosques and roads were built in certain areas,\u201d said Fazl and also asked why \u201cgreener pastures\u201d were promised to the people of erstwhile FATA when the promises could not be fulfilled.<\/p>\n
The PDM chief told the tribal people that he fought for them during Nawaz Sharif\u2019s government and will continue to do so now as well.<\/p>\n