People in KP reject ‘Goldsmith Agenda’ in by-election - JUI-F

Statement

Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Chief of Jamiat UIema-e-Islam (JUI-F), has said “People in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) have rejected ‘the Goldsmith Agenda’ in by-elections.” Maulana was referring to his and JUI’s main political rival in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) - in a reference to PTI using a reference to the name “Goldsmith”, the former father-in-law of PTI Chairman Imran Khan.

Background

The Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf gave very tough competition to JUI in the May 11 general elections and emerged as a majority-winning party, forming a coalition government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

In the run-up to May 11 elections, Imran Khan and Maulana Fazal Rehman resorted to personal attacks questioning each other’s personal credibility, beliefs and political viewpoints.

As a retort to Maulana’s statement that the “Jewish agenda will be buried forever in the August 22 by-election”, Imran Khan - at an election campaign rally in the Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said “…when he (Maulana Fazal) is here, there is no need for any other Jewish agent.”

Maulana Fazal reasserted his statement that “KP has rejected the Goldsmith agenda in the by-election” when the PTI candidate lost the NA-1 (national assembly seat in Peshawar), which had earlier been won by Imran Khan by a huge margin from the same nationalist opponent who defeated the PTI nominee in the by-election.

Tracking

JUI-F spokesperson Jan Achakzai, talking to the Truth Tracker (TT), said that PTI is working on its foreign agenda and that Goldsmith -Imran Khan’s father-in-law - was working for the Jewish lobby.

Compared to the May 11 general elections, Achakzai claimed that PTI got many fewer votes in the by-election on the NA-1 seat, proving that people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have rejected Mr Khan’s party and that his tsunami is a bygone story now.

PTI provincial leader Ishfaq Paracha, however, laughed at the Maulana version and told the Truth Tracker that the results of by-elections have shown that people of KP have rejected JUI not PTI. He said the PTI lost its NA-1 seat due to the wrong selection of the candidate. However, he said, out of a total of five seats contested in the by-election, the PTI won four, including the two seats vacated by Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman and later filled by his brother and son in by-elections.

Independent view

Prof. Dr. Mansoor Akbar Kundi, a political scientist and Vice Chancellor of Gomal University Dera Ismail Khan, told Truth Tracker that Mulana Fazal-ur-Rehman confined the party electoral politics to his own family. He said people had lost interest in the politics of JUI-F, leading to loss of two national assembly seats - NA-25 and NA-27. For example, instead of someone more popular in the party ranks, Maulana backed his own son and brother for both the seats he vacated after winning multiple seats in the general elections.

Dr Kundi said the JUI-F politics are based on religion while PTI is focusing on the well-being of the downtrodden, thus attracting both rich and poor alike. PTI not only got more seats in the general elections in KP, but has also strengthened its position further by winning more seats in the by-election, he said.

In light of the PTI successes in both general and by-elections and views expressed by independent analysts, Truth Tracker found the statement of Maulana-ur-Fazal Rehman to be false.