Head of his party in Karachi Qari Usman said on national television that the party is protesting against the government because it "released Christian woman Asia Bibi" and "hired an Ahmadi for the Economic Council," referring to the appointment of Atif Mian last year, which was annulled following announcement of nationwide rallies.
Tellingly, his madarsas have provided men for both the Afghan Taliban militant group and the anti-government Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Militant
wing
Tellingly, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Fazlur Rehman Group (JUI-F)
established a militant wing, a private militia / Razakar force named
'Ansar-ul-Islam' to provide 'security' to marchers for the so-called (freedom) Azadi
March.
JUI-F apparently took lead from India's Hindu extremist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) para-military volunteer force. Like the RSS volunteer force, JUI's uniformed Ansar-ul-Islam' volunteers were carrying sticks.
In a summary to the Federal Cabinet, the Ministry of Interior said Ansar-ul-Islam was organized, trained and equipped and it was capable of being used to display physical force in promoting Azadi March and objectives of the JUI-F.
The ministry said that the uniformed force, carrying batons and sticks with wrapped barbed wire under a politico-religious party, apparently aims at challenging the writ of the government. It said the rehearsals and march pasts carried out by the said force during a workers convention, recently held in Peshawar, pledging allegiance to the top JUI-F leadership, has stirred fear among the general public and is being seen as a private armed militia / combating force to confront the law enforcement agencies.
"It is feared that the said private militant force, reportedly around 80,000 all over Pakistan, may sabotage public peace and create disorder and anarchy across the country during the planned Azadi March and other political activities by JUI-F."
The interior ministry also expressed concerns that the private militia could be equipped with other objects, including arms and ammunition. Ansar-ul-Islam has posed a real, present and severe threat to the peace and tranquility of Islamabad and the four provinces, it added.
Not surprisingly on October 24 the government banned the Ansar-ul-Islam. According to the notification, the federal government had "reasons to believe that Ansar-ul-Islam is capable of functioning as a military organization, in violation of the prohibition contained in Article 256 of the Constitution".
JUI-F leader Maulana Fazalur Rehman has come under attack by human rights activists who have criticized his fiery speeches as well as his refusal to allow women at his protest march. Even women journalists were barred from the rallies until an outcry forced him to relent.
If history teaches us a lesson, Imran Khan's 126-day sit-in in Islamabad in 2014 failed to force out the government of the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who resigned because of graft in 2017.
Interestingly, two former Prime Ministers (Nawaz Sharif and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi) and a former President Asif Ali Zardari are in prison for graft. Nawaz Sharif was granted bail earlier this month for medical treatment by the court.
(Article changed on November 14, 2019 at 19:00)
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