LAHORE - Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl staged a show of political force, the first of its kind by the religious party in the capital of Punjab where it has no significant ground presence.
Addressing the participants on Sunday evening, JUI-F Amir Fazlur Rehman claimed that only his party can rid the poor of the slavery of the elite, end power shortages, uphold the Islamic identity of Pakistan, protect its sovereignty and serve the very purpose of its creation.
People from various cities, even from other provinces, came to swell the crowd at Minar-e-Pakistan, where some 30,000 chairs had been arranged. Most of the participants of ‘Islam Zindabad Conference’ were students of religious seminaries, the main constituency of the JUI-F.
Overall, the JUI-F leaders who spoke on the occasion displayed a particularly soft corner for Mian Nawaz Sharif, the chief of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which ruled Punjab for the last five years and with which the JUI-F has been seeking an electoral alliance.
