The Maulana

That Business Recorder op-ed writer Rashed Rahman is a politically astute individual is a fact; he writes with conviction, in fact genuine conviction. In his latest op-ed "Maulana's 'assurance'" carried by the newspaper yesterday, he has made some highly informed points in relation to JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman's approach to politics. He has argued, among other things, that "But what was intriguing about the Maulana's latest avatar was the 'revelation' that he had called off the Islamabad sit-in on an 'assurance' that Prime Minister Imran Khan would immediately resign and fresh elections would be held three months after. No prizes for guessing who might have given such an assurance. The Maulana referred to Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi's statement that he could not disclose the conditions that led to the end of the sit-in since those were a 'sacred trust' with him by asking Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi to divulge the details of the 'understanding' that led to the end of the sit-in. The Maulana went on to castigate the government for the price hike making the people's lives miserable, claimed it was his 13-day sit-in in Islamabad that caused the fissures appearing in the ruling coalition's ranks, and dismissed the sitting parliament as based on a bogus mandate that had resulted in a vacuum in the corridors of power."

It is, however, quite true that the maulana crated some meaningful pressure on the government through his almost two-week-old sit-in in Islamabad, although he miserably failed to dislodge a reasonably weak government. His protest, however, contributed to PML-N's efforts aimed at getting some 'relief' from the establishment. In other words, the maulana had lent a helping hand to a beleaguered PML-N through his Islamabad show. His father, the late Mufti Mahmood, too, was a shrewd politician. But the Maulana always seems to be one step ahead of all others.