Pakistan’s leading right-wing Islamic leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s party has alleged that the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was spreading false propaganda against its ideology and central leadership because of its supremo Nawaz Sharif’s electoral defeat in the February 8 elections, a media report said on Sunday.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) leader Mufti Kifayatullah said the victory of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) nominee Shahzada Muhammad Gushtasap Khan in the NA-15 Manshera-cum-Torghar constituency by defeating former premier Nawaz Sharif was the result of the party’s political strategy, the Dawn newspaper reported.

Shahzada Gushtasap Khan, who fought as an Independent after the Pakistan Election Commission deprived former prime minister Imran Khan’s party of its election symbol of a cricket bat, polled 1,05,249 votes while Nawaz Sharif got 80,382 votes.

Kifayatullah said Khan had contested the February 8 elections from NA-15 on the orders of his party chief.

Kifayatullah further said that his party’s ideology was different from the PML-N’s. He said his party is committed to the cause of sharia in the country through a peaceful political struggle.

The JUI-F leader claimed that the PML-N was using retired Captain Mohammad Safdar, son-in-law of Nawaz Sharif, to challenge his party’s ideology and mission to avenge the former three-time premier’s electoral defeat.

“The PML-N has never remained popular in the NA-15 constituency stretched over to the rural parts of Mansehra and neighbouring Torghar district and it was me who secured over 53,000 votes in the general elections held in 2018,” Kifayatullah said.

The JUI-F leader said that Safdar couldn’t suffer his father-in-law’s defeat in the elections and was searching for reasons behind Sharif’s failure. He claimed that Safdar was involved in his and his leadership’s character assassination.

“Our party has been waging a political war against the largest poll rigging in the country’s history, which paved the way for the installation of the PML-N government in the centre,” Kifayatullah said.

Notably, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had recently invited his former ally Maulana Rehman to become a part of the ruling coalition led by his party and play a role in resolving the political tensions in the country.

Sharif, who is heading a coalition government supported by Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party and other smaller parties, visited the residence of the JUI-F chief, 70, to enquire about his well-being on Thursday, the newspaper reported.

The 72-year-old premier also proposed the formation of a committee to address the prevailing political issues and asked Maulana Rehman to join the ruling coalition.

Quoting a source in the PM Office, the newspaper said the JUI-F leader was asked to join the ruling alliance and play a role in a proposed committee to resolve political tension prevailing in the country.

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