Fazl says it's a national, and not a JUI-F, protest.

LAHORE -- Calling his protest march a national rather than a Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) initiative, Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Wednesday that it was the religious parties that had blown the whistle on an 'incompetent' Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government and slowly all other segments of society also rose up against it.

The Maulana explained the rationale behind his 'Azadi march' in a speech at the Greater Iqbal Park, which was where thousands of participants in the protest were camped for many hours on Wednesday before setting off for Islamabad. The marchers had arrived here from Multan, to a rather subdued reception than expected.

The promised reinforcement from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz never materialised, even though there was a ritualistic attempt at giving an impression that the PML-N camps had welcomed the Maulana in the Sharif hometown. An attempt on Maulana Fazl's part to meet an ailing Mian Nawaz Sharif in hospital was also frustrated, ostensibly, under medical advice, and there was no Shahbaz Sharif on view to embrace and strengthen the marchers' leader.

The JUI-F chief apparently tried to compensate for this by coming up with a detailed version to justify this particular action of his. 'The religious parties were the first to note the extent and depth of the western (anti-Pakistan) agenda of the PTI government when blasphemy convicts were sent off (abroad) without due process of law,' he said, before expanding on the theme of religion. 'It was not just blasphemy convicts - a pro-Qadiani agenda followed, which enraged religious sentiment.'

Claims if Imran is allowed more time in power, country's loss will go beyond redemption

Maulana Fazl gave a break-up of how, in his view, various groups with their own grievances then joined in the protest against the Imran Khan government: 'The next, the doctors came on the streets. They were still on the roads when the teachers joined. And as if all this was not enough, the traders then pulled their shutters down.'

The JUI-F chief linked all these protesters to the Pakistanis suffering under 'unprecedented and inexorable inflation that has pushed a few more millions down the poverty line'. 'Instead of delivering on the promise of five million jobs,' he said, 'the PTI has thrown more than 2.5m people out of job with its policies. In place of 10m new houses, thousands have been razed in the name of action on encroachments. These factors have turned the march into a national...