ISLAMABAD: Maulana Fazlur Rehman, leader of a prominent Pakistani religious party, said on Monday a recent shooting on his party’s convoy in the country’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province had revealed the worsening security situation in Pakistan and that there was no harm in a brief postponement of the upcoming elections to guarantee a peaceful environment.
The convoy was fired upon near the Yarik interchange on the Islamabad-DI Khan motorway on Sunday, according to Rehman’s Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) party. However, police said Rehman was not accompanying the convoy at the time of the incident in the Dera Ismail Khan district.
“The vehicles have been hit by bullets, it is not related to my presence or not, it is a reflection of the deteriorating law and order situation in both Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan,” Rehman told reporters, in a media briefing in Dera Ismail Khan.
“For a peaceful environment, there is no harm if the elections are moved forward by a few days,” he urged.
The JUI-F has lately raised concerns about the security situation ahead of the national elections, scheduled for February 8, particularly after the party suffered major losses in KP local body elections due to being a target of militant groups in recent years.
In July last year, at least 40 JUI-F activists and supporters were killed in a deadly suicide attack that targeted the party’s worker convention in the northwestern Bajaur district. Months later, Hafiz Hamdullah, a senior JUI-F figure, was injured along with several others in a blast in Balochistan’s Mastung area.
Rehman said his party had been saying for quite some time now that KP and Balochistan had been much affected by militancy and there were security issues in both provinces.
He said a level playing field was not only a matter of one party, but a peaceful environment should be provided to all, including those in KP and Balochistan.
“We want elections as this is a constitutional requirement, but a peaceful environment should also be provided, because in this environment, how we will be able to carry out election campaigns and contest elections,” he asked.
The JUI-F chief said the general public and businessmen were also worried about the situation. “Security has been provided to me, but it is not available to every candidate,” he said.
About his visit to Kabul, Rehman said he had been invited by the Taliban administration to visit Afghanistan, which was delayed due to the election situation.
“It is expected that I will visit Afghanistan next week with the main agenda to remove misconceptions between the two countries,” he added.
Tensions between Kabul and Islamabad spiked as hundreds of thousands of Afghans left Pakistan after authorities started pursuing foreigners they said were in the country illegally, going door-to-door to check migrants’ documentation, following an Oct. 31 deadline.
Islamabad said Afghan nationals were involved in deadly attacks, including 14 of last year’s more than two dozen suicide bombings, as well as smuggling and other petty crimes.
