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PAKISTAN-POLITICS-KHAN-BACKGROUND
Mullah on the march: Pakistan cleric takes on Imran Khan
ISLAMABAD, Oct 30, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan
faces the first major challenge to his leadership as a grey-bearded, orange-
turbaned rival he calls “Maulana Diesel” marches to Islamabad with thousands
of Islamists hoping to bring down the government.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman — one of the country’s most seasoned political
operators — has dominated the airwaves in recent days with his calls to
unseat his old adversary Khan.
The prime minister, he says, did not win last year’s election, but was
“selected” by the powerful security establishment — a suggestion denied by
Khan, but spread widely by Pakistan’s opposition since even before the July
2018 election.
“This movement will continue until the end of this government,” Rehman told
reporters ahead of the march.
“There is no other way… to bring Pakistan back on the democratic path.”
Rehman, who heads the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) — one of the country’s
largest Islamist parties — has been leading supporters from across Pakistan
for days on a “Azadi (Freedom) March” towards Islamabad, with tens of
thousands expected to converge on the capital.
He says they will arrive by October 31, but so far has refused to clarify
what happens next.
It is a scenario Khan himself is familiar with. As opposition leader in
2014 he organised months of mass protests in Islamabad that failed in a bid
to bring down the government.
With the ability to mobilise tens of thousands of madrassa students, JUI-F
protests have a history of stirring unrest, and authorities are sealing off
the capital’s diplomatic enclave with shipping containers. A violent
crackdown risks sparking a wider backlash in the Muslim-majority country,
where mainstream politicians have long tried to keep the conservative right
on side.
– Bad blood –
Rehman’s bad blood with Khan runs deep.
Khan ran on an anti-corruption agenda in 2018 and called out “Maulana
Diesel”, as he dubbed him, for his alleged participation in graft involving
fuel licenses.
Rehman, in turn, refers to the former World Cup-winning cricketer as “the
Jew” — citing his first marriage to Jemima Goldsmith, along with incoherent
anti-Semitic conspiracies.
Rehman, a maulana (cleric) whose orange turban sports a traditional pattern
from his northwest hometown, lost his parliamentary seat in 2018 to a
candidate from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party.
Still smarting from that loss, Rehman has chosen this moment carefully.
Khan’s government has been under pressure for months as anger simmers over
the dire state of the economy.
Unemployment, double-digit inflation, and rising utility costs have hit
ordinary Pakistanis hard — issues other opposition parties have also railed
against — and Rehman has been eager to exploit the unhappiness during the
march.
As the protest moved toward the capital this week, traders across the
country launched a two-day strike, piling further pressure on Khan.
– ‘Cheated’ –
The cleric insists that Khan needs to be removed from office, and a new
“free and fair” election held.
But he remains vague about how he aims to achieve their goals.
That lack of substance has led some observers to suggest Rehman’s protest
is more a salve for his ego after the humiliating election drubbing.
“He’s been left out of a game and he thinks he’s been cheated out of his
rightful place,” said columnist Arifa Noor.
“The (economy) is more of a stick to beat the government with.”
Rehman has rotated in and out of successive governments for decades,
forging alliances with both Islamist and secular parties while enjoying
occasional support from the military establishment.
He was once a hardline Islamist and anti-American firebrand, calling for
the implementation of Shariah law publically backing the Afghan Taliban, but
more recently has tried to rebrand as a moderate.
That has not stopped him from dismissing the attack on Nobel prize laureate
Malala Yousfazi in 2012 as a fabricated conspiracy, and protesting the
exoneration of Asia Bibi — a Christian woman at the centre of Pakistan’s
most high-profile blasphemy case.
Whether the march ends in violence or not, it has undeniably thrust Rehman
back into the spotlight after suggestions he was increasingly becoming
irrelevant.
“When was the last time the maulana dominated the news agenda this much?”
asked Noor.
BSS/AFP/RY/1540 hrs