Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said that ‘forces’ behind Dr Tahirul Qadri should stop playing ‘such gimmicks’ because the country cannot afford adventurism.

Talking to reporters at the residence of Railway Minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour here on Tuesday, he said that people who had left the country had returned and were now trying to deceive the nation by raising the slogan of ‘save the state, not politics’.

He said Mr Qadri had once won a seat in the National Assembly and settled in Canada after his son lost an election. He said the purpose of criticising politicians was to derail the democratic system. “I believe that fear is being spread in the country to find an excuse for delaying the general election.”

If polls could be conducted in Iraq, Afghanistan or Iran, then why not in Pakistan, he asked.The JUI-F chief warned that any extra-constitutional step could lead to anarchy.

He praised Awami National Party chief Asfandyar Wali Khan’s offer of peace talks with the Pakistani Taliban and said the time had come to implement a joint resolution of parliament passed in October 2008.