Pak PM dismisses fears of Islamabad lockdown on Oct 27

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has dismissed fears of an Islamabad lockdown on October 27 by Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, saying he would not be able to exploit the 'religious card' against the government at the behest of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

"The prime minister was of the view that PPP and PML-N are pretending that they are not taking part in the lockdown programme, but in fact both parties are backing him (Maulana Fazlur of JUI-F) and providing him money to meet their own agenda," a close aide of Khan told an English daily after the meeting.

As per reports, Khan said that Maulana Fazlur is using innocent children from madarsas against the government, but he [JUI-F chief] should realise that after the government's stance on the Kashmir issue in the recently concluded United Nations General Assembly session, he would not be able to exploit the 'religious card'.

"The government believes that students of madarsas are our own children, but they are being misguided by people like Fazlur Rehman," said the aide of Khan.

According to him, Khan said the PPP and PML-N are not directly joining the lockdown move because if it failed they would not be blamed, but the JUI-F. He said the meeting agreed that Maulana Fazlur had received a lot of money from both the PPP and the PML-N to fulfil their agendas against the government.

Talking about the news of a possible deal between the government and the opposition, Khan reiterated that no concessions would be given to those who had plundered national wealth, reported the English daily saying, "Khan will never go for any deal with former rulers."