Kabul/Islamabad – On December 1, influential Pakistani cleric and JUI‑F leader Fazlur Rehman blasted the country’s approach to Afghanistan, declaring that it has “failed” in all its attempts to improve ties as border tensions mount.
Speaking at a rally in Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and as reported by Amu TV, Rehman said: “In 78 years, Pakistan has not been able to make Afghanistan its friend. You only know war. You cannot solve this problem.” He called on Islamabad to rethink its regional strategy, noting that trust between the two states has never been established.
Rehman urged the ruling authorities to “review its policies” to bring stability to the region. His comments arrive amid a spike in friction between Islamabad and the Taliban regime, with both sides issuing threats and accusations in recent weeks.
In a separate incident, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar had announced a “clearing operation” inside Afghanistan during a sharp standoff, but the plan was shelved after pressure from Qatar, according to the report.
The cleric also criticized Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government, accusing it of crippling the economy and not delivering the nation the people envisioned. “Fazl said his party wanted a country where there is peace and people can breathe freely. The government must give people their rights,” the report in The Express Tribune added. He accused officials of turning the Constitution into a toy, with the wishes of a few powerful individuals overriding public aspirations.
He further claimed that lawmakers had been bribed to pass the 27th Constitutional Amendment with a sham majority, and that the federal administration had stalled the China‑Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) at Western insistence.
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