Fazal-ur-Rehman (politician)

Maulana Fazlur Rehman is a fundamentalist Pakistani Deobandi politician and current president of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI). He is the acting president of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), a coalition of establishment political parties formed to resist the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf administration of Imran Khan. Rehman was a member of the National Assembly between 1988 and May 2018 and during that time served as Leader of the Opposition from 2004 to 2007. Rehman was part of MRD which was formed against Zia-ul-Haq's dictatorship.
Rehman was considered a pro-Taliban politician, known for his close ties to Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. He has attempted to re-brand himself as a moderate without connections to religious extremists and hardliners. In the past, he has called for imposition of Sharia in Pakistan. Being a follower of Mahmud Hasan Deobandi who campaigned for liberation against the British Raj but later restricted his members from armed struggle after establishing Political party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, Rehman opposed armed struggle to impose shariah laws as it leads to extremism in society. When in power, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from 2004-2007 his party passed the 'Hasba Bill' which was considered, and later declared illegal and unconstitutional. Through this bill, he believed that he would be following in his father's footsteps, Mufti Mahmud, as he tried to implement 'Nizam-e-Mustafa' what his father struggled for in his political life but it was declared un-constitutional by Chief Justice Pakistan Iftikhar Chaudhry. 
After a crushing defeat in the 2018 Pakistani general election, Rehman was ejected from the National Assembly and failed to win major political support in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, bagging only 10 of the 99 seats in his home turf. Alleging election fraud, 11 opposition political parties formed the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) appointing Rehman as the president of this movement.
Early life.
Rehman was born on 19 June 1953 (1 September according to another report) to a religious and political family in village Abul Kheel, D.I. Khan. His early education was from Millat High School, Multan and was a student of Mussarat Baig and Syed Iqbal Shah. He attained a Bachelor's degree (B.A) in 1983 from University of Peshawar and completed his Master's degree at Al-Azhar University Cairo.
During his early religious training and education ("Ilm Us Saraf, Ilm Un Nahv", Logic) he remained the disciple of Mufti Muhammad Essa Gurmani and Molana Abdul Ghaffor Gurmani of Shadan Lund before studying "Sharah-e-Mata-e-Aamil" and "Hidayat-un-Nahv" with Maulana Muhammad Ameer of Chudwan in a Madrassa at Jhok wains Multan . He was a student of Maulana Abdul Haq, Maulana Hasan Jan, and Maulana Dr Syed Sher Ali Shah during his Shahadat-ul Alamia at Darul Uloom Haqqania.
His father, Mufti Mahmud was an Islamic scholar and politician who served as the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from 1972 to 1973.<ref name="bbc/6nov2002"></ref> He and his family are part of the Deobandi movement.
Views Of Religious Scholars (Ulema) About Him.
Mufti Zarwarali Khan highly praised him and his style of politics several times during his life. In one of his lessons, He said Maulana Fazlur Rehman is not only a great politician of his time but also a person who is blessed with the Islamic knowledge He is the sign of right and wrong in the field of politics and his way of politics do not differs with his father's style instead its according to it
Maulana Ilyas Ghuman said that each field has its own experts and leaders similarly, for ulemas in the field of politics their leader is Maulana Fazlur Rehman. He and his party represents the Ulema on political and government level
Maulana Dr Manzoor Ahmed Mengal uttered in one of lectures that the demise of Mufti Mahmud deeply affected Deoband but the gap after a long time has been filled by Maulana Fazlur Rehman and in another lecture he stated that Fazal is the true voice of religious people
Sufi giant Peer Zulfiqar Ahmad Naqshbandi also complimented Fazal and once he gave his turban to Maulana Fazlur Rehman as the sign of honour
Shaykh-ul-Islam Mufti Taqi Usmani also commended Fazal on his politics and once he made special Dua for him
Allama Zahid Ur Rashdi showed confidence in Fazal as well by saying that his manner of politics is similar to the way of politics of his father
During a seminar in 2017, various highly qualified ulema including Imam-e-Kaba Saleh bin Abi talib, Arab scholar Saleh bin Abdul Aziz, Maulana Dr. Abdur Razzaq Iskander, Vice-chancellor of Darul Uloom Deoband Maulana Abul Qasim Nomani, Maulana Allah Wasaya, General Secretary of Wifaq ul Madaris Al-Arabia Maulana Hanif Jalandhari and Maulana Mahmood Madni, expressed love and confidence in Maulana Fazlur Rehman
Political career.
Rehman began his political career as the secretary general of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam in 1980 at the age of 27. This was after the death of his father Mufti Mahmud who was the leader of the party before his death.<ref name="dawn/5april2013"></ref>
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam later split into two factions in the mid 1980s with the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) led by Fazal.<ref name="dawn/herald2008"></ref> Rehman was elected as the member of the National Assembly of Pakistan in 1988 Pakistani general elections for the first time on from D.I. Khan seat. He then made connections with Afghan Taliban. Rehman ran for the seat of the National Assembly of Pakistan in 1990 Pakistani general elections for the second time on from D.I. Khan seat but did not win the election. Rehman was elected as the member of the National Assembly of Pakistan in 1993 Pakistani general elections for the second time on Islamic Jamhoori Mahaz ticket from D.I. Khan seat. Fazal was appointed as the chairman of the Standing Committee for Foreign Affairs in National Assembly of Pakistan. Rehman ran for the seat of the National Assembly of Pakistan in 1997 Pakistani general elections for the fourth time but did not win the election.
Rehman led several anti-American protests and pro-Taliban rallies in the major cities of Pakistan following the war in Afghanistan in 2001. He criticised President of United States George W. Bush, and threatened to launch jihad against the United States if the bombings continued. He also criticised and warned President of the Pakistan Pervez Musharraf that he would be overthrown if he continued to support the “War on Terror”. In October 2001, Pervez Musharraf placed Fazal under house arrest in his native village Abdul Khel for inciting the citizens of Pakistan against the armed forces of Pakistan and for trying to overthrow the government of Pakistan. Later in March 2002, Fazal was set free and the cases against him were withdrawn.
Rehman was elected as the member of the National Assembly of Pakistan in 2002 Pakistani general elections for the third time on Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal ticket. He won on two seats, NA-24 and NA-25, the later was vacated. Upon winning the election, Fazal became a potential candidate for the post of prime minister of Pakistan but was not appointed. He served as the leader of the opposition from 2004 to 2007.
According to WikiLeaks, in 2007 Rehman invited then US Ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson, to a dinner in which he sought her support in becoming Prime Minister of Pakistan and expressed a desire to visit America but later it was clarified that the US Ambassador came to him and Fazal asked the ambassador that if he is elected as Prime Minister in future, America should show confidence in him. He did not seek support of America rather he wanted America to support his government if he is elected near in future.<ref name="theguardian/30nov2010"></ref>
Rehman ran for the seat of the National Assembly of Pakistan in 2008 Pakistani general elections for the sixth time on Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal ticket from two constituencies, NA-24, D.I. Khan which is his traditional constituency and NA-26, Bannu In September 2008, he was elected chairman of the Kashmir committee of the National Assembly of Pakistan. Rehman was elected as the member of the National Assembly of Pakistan for the fourth time on Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal ticket from Bannu constituency, but he lost the election in D.I. Khan constituency. By 2008, Fazal distanced himself from Taliban and called himself a moderate.
In May 2014, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif gave him the status of a federal minister for being the chairman of special committee of the National Assembly on Kashmir.<ref name="dawn/27aug2017"></ref> In August 2017, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi gave him the same status again. Upon the dissolution of the National Assembly on the expiration of its term on 31 May 2018, he ceased to hold the status of a federal minister. In March 2018, he became head of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal which was revived in December 2017. Rehman ran for the seat of the National Assembly of Pakistan in 2018 Pakistani general elections from Dera Ismail Khan's constituencies, NA38 and NA 39 but did not win.
On 27 August 2018, several opposition parties including Pakistan Muslim League (N), nominated him as a candidate in the 2018 presidential election. On 4 September 2018, he clinched 184 electoral votes behind Arif Alvi (352) and ahead of Aitzaz Ahsan (124) in the election.
Controversies.
Rehman opposed the Huqooq-e-Niswan bill in 2016 claiming that it was un-islamic. Rehman also rejected the Women's Protection Bill in 2016, which protects domestic violence victims, claiming that the judicial execution of Mumtaz Qadri was wrong and declared that he was a martyr, rallying other right-wing religious parties to do the same. 
Opposition to PTI.
On numerous occasions, Rehman has displayed severe opposition to Imran Khan and his political party, the "Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf" (PTI). In 2013 Rehman declared voting for the PTI as "haram" (religiously prohibited), asserting Khan to be supported by the West and the Jewish lobby and explicitly calling him an agent of "Americans, Jews, Ahmadis and a person of ill character".
Azadi March.
In late 2019 Rehman led a march towards Islamabad with the intent to sit-in, until PM Imran Khan resigned from office. There were no more than ten thousand protestors of opposition party members demonstrated against the Khan government. The Azadi March which translates as "Freedom March" started from Sukkur on October 27, 2019 and travelled Sindh and Punjab; other political parties also joined the march which reached Islamabad on October 31, 2019. Rehman also addressed the participants at different points on the journey. However, he could not reach his aims and ended the march on 16 November 2019.
Pakistan Democratic Movement.
In 2020, Rehman was unanimously elected as the leader of the coalition of political parties against the PTI government, the Pakistan Democratic Movement. Nawaz Sharif even favoured this appointment to be on a permanent basis but was opposed by others.