Daily Times

For the first time in so many decades, JUI’s Maulana Fazlur Rehman finds himself locked in a closed-off alley and boy, is he furious. The general round of elections that sent shockwaves across the country on February 8 saw him lose against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-backed Ali Amin Khan Gandapur in NA-44. Dera Ismail Khan is his home constituency.

Although being kicked out of the hallways of power, with the exception of four seats in the national, seven in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and nine in Balochistan’s assembly must have cost him several good nights’ sleep, nothing would have hurt more than the loss of home ground. The injuries are far too personal to be ignored. In the past, no matter who sits at the top, Maulana and his shrewd style of politicking find some way to remain relevant.

He knows he was never a force to be reckoned but why bother about a ferocious battle when he could easily enjoy the perks associated with the king-making? Realising the impending redundancy, he neither became a part of the multi-party press conference gathered in the residence of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain nor announced any plans to join setup A or B or C. The decision of a man who takes great pride in being in vogue in all seasons to sit on the opposition benches has surprised many.

The decision of a man who takes great pride in being in vogue in all seasons to sit on the opposition benches has surprised many.

However, it would be utterly delusional of him to not see this defeat well in advance. If today, Maulana believes he can slide off the errors in his own ways by splashing muddy waters on the law enforcement agencies, he is definitely living in a world of his own. All those security threats that he repeatedly used to cite in his press statements and in jalsagahs to try to kick off the polls as far down the dusty road as possible are now being used to concoct a self-serving and increasingly incomprehensible agenda. If security measures to protect him and his party against very tangible terror threats are what caused him to fail miserably, why was he so concerned about these threats before? And if the unavailability of space to plan out a well-coordinated strategy should be blamed for these results, how were the likes of PTI able to perform exceptionally well?

It would be in the best interest of Maulana and many others like him to sit back and realise what actually went wrong with their agendas. Their glaring failure to give a good fight to the public appeal of Imran Khan and his PTI should be considered as they proceed with their accusations. Although Fazlur Rehman is known to be a very different man in his private life than his public image, his party has repeatedly forced the state to take a strict line on issues of religion and morality. The Pakistan of today is not ready to accept his controversial, largely misogynistic thoughts on women’s empowerment and the secular role of the state. While he may have failed to woo the Taliban in his recent trip to Kabul, the uncanny similarities between the two ideological twins cannot be sidelooked. Perhaps, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa did not wish to live with bated breath under the rule of a man whose views stand poles apart from the ideology of a progressive, tolerant, and liberal Pakistan.

The writer is a freelance columnist.