Gohar Khan delegation meets Fazlur Rehman, backs NA speech
The declaration issued after the meeting condemns what it calls character assassination of the JUI-F chief by government ministers and seeks access to Imran Khan's sisters in jail.
A delegation of the Tehreek-e-Tahaffuz-e-Aain Pakistan led by Barrister Gohar Khan met JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman at his residence and backed his recent speech in the National Assembly, according to a declaration issued after the meeting and reported by Express News.
The delegation included Asad Qaiser and Hussain Ahmad Yousafzai, the report said. It did not give the date of the meeting and identified the venue only as Maulana Fazlur Rehman's residence.
In the declaration, the delegation said it fully endorsed the JUI-F chief's speech in the National Assembly and strongly condemned what it described as character assassination of him by government ministers. Turning political differences into personal attacks and character assassination is contrary to democratic values, the declaration said, adding that respect for political leadership must be maintained in all circumstances.
The delegation also condemned the imprisonment of the sisters of PTI founding chairman Imran Khan and said they were being kept from their basic rights. It expressed concern that they had not been allowed access to their family or to lawyers.
The declaration warned that if an unpleasant situation arose, responsibility would rest with the relevant authorities. It named Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, provincial assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati and Junaid Akbar in that connection, without setting out in detail what it sought from each.
UrduPoint and Express News both carried the meeting. UrduPoint's headline led on the delegation's support for Maulana Fazlur Rehman's National Assembly speech; Express News led on the condemnation of character assassination and quoted the declaration's line that political differences must not be turned into personal attacks.
Neither report included a statement from Maulana Fazlur Rehman himself, from the government ministers referred to in the declaration, or from the three officials it named. No response from any of them was carried in the reports available.
The Tehreek-e-Tahaffuz-e-Aain Pakistan is the movement announced by Imran Khan's party around the protection of the constitution, and the delegation's visit comes amid a wider standoff between the PTI and the federal government over the treatment of the party's imprisoned founder and his family.
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