Despite his party line, Maulana Fazl ‘wants to vote for Achakzai

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) Emir Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said that he wants to vote for Mahmood Achakzai — the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) candidate for the presidential election — but his party’s decision demands otherwise.
He, however, ruled out the possibility of joining hands with the allied parties, saying that the environment for a grand alliance is not yet there.
“We will be where the opposition benches are. We will go to parliament and protest,” he added while speaking to a gathering at Jamia Anwarul Uloom in Karachi on Sunday.
Achakzai, the chief of Pashtun­khwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), has been nominated as the presidential candidate against Pakistan Peoples Party Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, who is a joint candidate of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and other political parties part of the coalition set to form a government at the Centre.
The National Assembly today elected PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif as the 24th prime minister of Pakistan in a ruckus-hit session. This will be followed by the election of the country’s president on March 9, with Zardari as the strongest candidate, having the support of several parties in the parliament.