File photo, courtesy JUIF
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Monday continued his calls for a delay to the general elections due on Feb. 8, 2024, claiming Pakistan’s security situation does not currently permit the conduct of polls.
A day earlier, Rehman’s convoy was attacked in Dera Ismail Khan, though his party leaders said he was not present inside the vehicle at the time. Over the past few months, the JUIF chief has alternated between calling for a delay to polls due to either the security situation or inclement weather in Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa during February, though thus far his arguments have found little support.
“The incident yesterday [Sunday] raises questions on the security situation,” he said, referring to the attack on his convoy. “It won’t be a big issue If elections are delayed for a few days,” he said, recalling his party had also come under attack in Waziristan and Tank. “How can we run our election campaign in such conditions?” he questioned, adding he had asked Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) SIkandar Sultan Raja to consider his request to delay polls, but he was “praying” for suitable conditions.
Maintaining the restive security situation would impact the voter turnout, he said it would also raise questions over the transparency of the polling exercise. To a question, he said authorities should work to ensure a level-playing field for all parties, not just the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, reiterating accusations of the party having destroyed the economy while in power.
Around five weeks before elections, the JUIF remains the only major political party calling for a delay to polls. The PPP and PMLN have both launched their election campaigns in earnest, while the PTI has repeatedly asserted it would contest polls under all circumstances, even if the ECP were to deny it the electoral symbol of a cricket bat.
Responding to the JUIF’s call to delay polls, PPP spokesperson Faisal Karim Kundi had earlier said Rehman was trying to “run away” from the polls.