The recently expelled leaders of the Jamiat Ulema Islam – Fazl (JUI-F) are meeting in Islamabad next week amid reports that a new faction of the party may be launched on the occasion.
As the JUI-F is said to be facing resentment from its senior cadre over the expulsion of Maulana Mohamed Khan Sherani, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, Maulana Gul Naseeb and Maulana Shujaul Mulk, they have reportedly decided to launch their own faction against Maulana Fazlur Rehman.
A member of the JUI-F, requesting not be named, said the four leaders would meet in Islamabad on tomorrow and like-minded members of the party were also expected to attend the meeting.
They will announce their future course of action at a news conference after the meeting.
The four leaders of JUI-F were expelled from the party on Friday following a decision by its disciplinary committee.
Sources in the party said the group of dissidents was led by former chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology Maulana Sherani, who had been the chief of Balochistan chapter of the JUI-F for nearly 32 years.
Former senator and former spokesman of the JUI-F Hafiz Hussain also belongs to Balochistan.
Former senator Maulana Gul Naseeb and ex-MNA Maulana Shuja belong to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Meanwhile, Maulana Shuja, in a statement issued on Saturday, termed the expulsion of senior JUI-F leaders illegal `as proper process had not been adopted`.
He said Rehman was trying to pit senior ulema and party leaders against the state institutions just to save himself from corruption cases to be filed by National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
`If Maulana sahib is clean, he should present his record before NAB and everything would be clear, Maulana Shuja said and added that just because of notices issued to him by the accountability watchdog, Rehman was asking the party workers to stage sit-ins.
In a statement, Hafiz Hussain said he was removed from his post for rejecting the allegations leveled by Nawaz Sharif against the military leadership as these were not in line with the JUI-F`s policies. He described the 11-party opposition Pakistan Democratic Movement as an “unnatural alliance”.
Meanwhile, another dissident group of the JUI-F, that had parted ways with Rehman in 2007, criticised both him and Sherani at a news conference in the National Press Club.
Maulana Abdul Qadir Luni, naib [deputy] emir of the JUI-Nazaryati, claimed that the four expelled leaders of the party were in touch with his group.
Luni said Rehman was indulging in ‘hereditary politics’ as he had appointed his son parliamentary leader of the JUI-F in the National Assembly and made his brother a senator.