{"id":67447,"date":"2024-03-04T23:25:20","date_gmt":"2024-03-04T23:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/jui-f-to-abstain-mqm-p-sets-conditions-for-presidential-vote\/"},"modified":"2024-03-04T23:25:20","modified_gmt":"2024-03-04T23:25:20","slug":"jui-f-to-abstain-mqm-p-sets-conditions-for-presidential-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/jui-f-to-abstain-mqm-p-sets-conditions-for-presidential-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"JUI-F to abstain, MQM-P sets conditions for presidential vote"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<p><figure class=\"media  sm:w-full  w-full  media--stretch    media--uneven  media--stretch\"><figcaption class=\"media__caption  \">KARACHI: JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman addresses a press conference after a meeting of the party\u2019s general council, in Korangi, on Sunday.\u2014Facebook \/ juipakofficial<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p>KARACHI: It seems that Asif Ali Zardari does not command the same popularity among his allies as he did when first elected president in 2008, with JUI-F opting to abstain from voting in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1818609\/pti-fields-mahmood-khan-achakzai-to-face-zardari-in-presidential-election\">presidential election<\/a>, while MQM-P has declared they will present their demands if approached by the PPP for votes.<\/p>\n<p>JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, while addressing a press conference in Karachi on Sunday, made it clear that his party would abstain from voting in the presidential elections, and he conveyed this stance to all leaders of the ruling alliance who had recently sought his support.<\/p>\n<p>Asked about the prospects of the upco\u00adming presidential elections, he expressed support for the opposition candidate Meh\u00admood Khan Achakzai over the PPP\u2019s Mr Zar\u00addari but clarified that it was \u201ca personal wish\u201d and not the party\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media  w-full  w-full  media--stretch  media--embed  \">\n<p><div class=\"ast-oembed-container \" style=\"height: 100%;\"><iframe title=\"\ud83d\udd34LIVE: JUIF Chief Maulana Fazal Ur Rehman Press Conference | Dawn News Live\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LYnxy6I5DXo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI personally want to vote Achakzai Sb [in the presidential election],\u201d Maulana said. \u201cBut this is my wish and not the party\u2019s decision. If the party decides to abstain from the voting, my wish doesn\u2019t matter. The party decision is supreme over personal wishes.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote-level-1\">\n<p>Fazl expresses \u2018personal preference\u2019 for Achakzai over Zardari; Farooq Sattar seeks answers on \u2018misuse of funds\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure class=\"media  sm:w-1\/2  w-full  media--right  media--embed  media--uneven\">\n<p>    <iframe class=\"nk-iframe\" onload=\"setInterval(()=&gt;{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"height:400px;position:relative\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/card\/1818835\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Dashing the hopes of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led ruling alliance, JUI-F chief ruled out all possibilities of joining the treasury benches and insisted to be a part of the opposition in the parliament while giving hint to launch a \u201ccountrywide protest campaign\u201d against the \u201crigged\u201d elections.<\/p>\n<p>Reiterating his stance on the Feb 8 elections, he accused the establishment of \u201cstealing and managing\u201d the mandate of the people of Pakistan, who, he claimed, were betrayed once again in 2024, just as in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur friends [leaders or PML-N and PPP] approached us and held meetings,\u201d he replied to a question about results of his recent meetings with the leaders of the parties which are part of the ruling alliance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe met them, gave them due respect and argued our case before them. I am sure that they would be convinced now and won\u2019t ask us again [to join the government]. We would be sitting on opposition benches [in the parliament] and no one should have any doubt about this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While describing the Feb 8 elections in general \u201crigged and controversial,\u201d he specifically mentioned provincial assemblies in Sindh and Balochistan where the mandate was \u201cbought\u201d spending huge amount of money. In both provinces, the PPP which emerged as majority party, has recently managed to get its nominees elected as chief ministers and set up its government.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis doesn\u2019t mean that we are satisfied with the election results in KP or other parts of the country,\u201d said Maulana when asked about his opinion on elections in other provinces. \u201cThe establishment came up with a weird plan distributing mandate on its own ignoring people\u2019s will and votes. We were against this plan and weren\u2019t part of this sale purchase game so we lost the elections.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To a question about the possibility of a \u201cgrand alliance\u201d of opposition parties in the parliament, the JUI-F chief said that it would be too early to suggest any such partnership in the near future.<\/p>\n<p>Apart from \u201clocal elements\u201d, Maulana was sure that the defeat suffered by his party in the recent elections had also some \u201cinternational factors\u201d which made \u201cforeign powers angry\u201d on JUI-F.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow can you ignore the role of international powers [in the elections] who were obviously not happy over my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1786680\/jui-f-chief-maulana-fazlur-rehman-meets-hamas-leaders-in-qatar\">meetings with leaders of Hamas<\/a> to show solidarity with the people of Palestine and condemn Israeli atrocities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen I met the leaders of Afghanistan where the US has suffered humiliating defeat and Islamic Emirate has come into power. Though my meetings with Afghan leaders was meant to bring the two countries closer and peace in the region, it wasn\u2019t felt good by the international powers. So they put our establishment under pressure and then came the results of the elections.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>MQM-P to present demands<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Separately, MQM-P senior leader Dr Farooq Sattar said that there have been no discussions with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) regarding the upcoming presidential elections.<\/p>\n<p>While talking to media, Dr Sattar said that if the PPP is interested in talks, \u201cwe are not against them and our doors are open\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>He emphasised that if they do reach out, MQM-P will present their demands and seek answers.<\/p>\n<p>He stressed the need to seek answers regarding the apparent misuse of billions of rupees received in the budget.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will seek answers about their behaviour towards MQM-P and the people of Sindh, particularly in terms of the allocation and utilisation of budgetary funds,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He said that MQM-P would like to know about Mr Zardari\u2019s future plans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want to know how, as president, Mr Zardari would play his role in creating harmony among different factions within the provinces.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Riaz Usman also contributed to this report<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2024<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KARACHI: JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman addresses a press conference after a meeting of the party\u2019s general council, in Korangi, on Sunday.\u2014Facebook \/ juipakofficial KARACHI: It seems that Asif Ali Zardari does not command the same popularity among his allies as he did when first elected president in 2008, with JUI-F opting to abstain from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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