Rehman warns against military power concentration in Pakistan — SkimNews
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- Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam chief and opposition leader, warned at a public gathering in Punjab's Multan district on Friday that growing concentration of political and institutional power in the military establishment threatens Pakistan's stability
- Rehman said the country functions effectively only when the military, bureaucracy, and elected institutions operate within their constitutional domains, warning that forces accumulating authority would be 'crushed under the weight of that power'
- Rehman criticized the October 11 imposition of emergency and governor's rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa—which removed jailed ex-PM Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf provincial government—as an attack on democracy and vowed to oppose it through democratic means
- Rehman labeled PM Shehbaz Sharif's government a 'fake government' of 'powerless rulers' lacking an electoral mandate, and separately targeted the Pakistan Peoples Party and President Asif Ali Zardari over the KP decision
- Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz said Rehman's comments about Army Chief Field Marshal Gen Asim Munir had 'hurt every patriotic Pakistani' and accused him of backing those responsible for 'incompetence, mismanagement and corruption' in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Why it matters: Rehman becomes the first major opposition figure to publicly frame the October 11 governor's rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as part of a broader military power consolidation, reframing the political crisis around institutional imbalance rather than the Imran Khan dispute. Maryam Nawaz's sharp counter-response from a senior PML-N leader indicates the government sees Rehman's remarks as politically damaging enough to warrant a direct, public rebuttal.
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