Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Monday accused Pakistan army of derailing Chinese investments under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor ( CPEC ), alleging that the country’s mineral wealth was being used to advance foreign interests and facilitate a shift towards United States.
“You have disappointed China, you have halted their investment midway, and when China is disappointed, the rest of the world will not come to invest in your country either,” he said “And who is taking China’s place? This has been admitted by the Americans themselves in front of me,” he said. Multinational companies come, they invest; America is not immune to this, Russia is not immune, China is not immune, Britain and France are not immune,” he said. This has been admitted by the Americans themselves in front of me, and our esteemed elders here have taken those beautiful, beautiful stones to their offices and presented them, and the ambassador they have here at the time has also said it in her interview,” he added. “These Pakistani politicians – whose priorities I know – in all such matters, they first determine their own share, and only then do they think about the country,” he said. “As soon as governor’s rule was imposed and as soon as the emergency was declared, the topic of terrorism simply vanished, and from their side, the discussion of mineral reserves was dropped,” he said.
America is taking its place. “And who is taking China’s place? Fazlur Rehman also questioned the imposition of governor’s rule and the declaration of an emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, alleging that the measures were linked to concerns over the region’s mineral reserves.
The provincial government is aligned with the narrative of terrorism; it is the federation that is not providing support for that narrative,” he said. “On what grounds? Terrorism?