Fazl blames lack of joint opposition for unchecked legislation

Fazl blames lack of joint opposition for unchecked legislation.

Key points

• Manzoor Ali Published August 24, 2026 Updated August 24, 2026 07: 43am.
• Manzoor Ali is a Peshawar-based reporter for Dawn with over 15 years of experience covering governance, climate, and the economy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
• According to He additionally, the same law immediately went to Senate and passed within 30 minutes and the opposition was happy regarding staging a walkout.
• He believed the creation of new provinces was aimed at reversing the National Finance Commission Award and "capturing" the mineral resources of provinces.
• Maulana Fazl regretted that even the administrative powers of prime minister within the armed forces have now been vested in one person.

Manzoor Ali Published August 24, 2026 Updated August 24, 2026 07: 43am. Join our Whatsapp Channel. Add Dawn as a trusted source.

PESHAWAR: JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Sunday pointed out a structural weakness on opposition benches, noting that the opposition leader failed to unite parties to effectively challenge the recent administration legislation on armed forces command.

While noting that opposition walkouts without act­ive resistance have harmed democratic checks and balances, the JUI-F chief pressed joint opposition coordination inside parliament to prevent further unche­cked legislative actions.

"The recent legislation was passed in a great haste, without any debate and even opposition members did not examine it in detail, " Maulana Fazl continued while addressing party workers' convention, organised by the JUI-F Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter, in Peshawar.

In his speech, he offered scathing critique of the recent legislations, creation of new provinces and law and order situation in the country. Calls new provinces move 'a tactic' to roll back NFC Award.

He remarked that they backed Pakistan's solid defence capability, but rejected military's interference in politics.

Maulana Fazl regretted that even the administrative powers of prime minister within the armed forces have now been vested in one person. He observed the laws additionally had an overriding effect over other legislations that were in conflict with it.

He asserted that when they had raised in parliament the problem of making the Holy Quran and Sunnah as the supreme law of the land previously, the then chief justice of Pakistan declared that all clauses of the Constitution were equal and no single clause could be superior to another.

Nevertheless, he stated that legislation was carried out to concentrate power and authority in establishment with overriding effect over other laws that were in conflict with it.

Notably, the powers that should have been vested in parliament were concentrated within a person, he reiterated, adding that his office's authority had been extended over the army, air force, and the navy as well and it would hold all powers, including dismissing someone, extending someone's service, accepting and rejecting someone resignation, and all these powers were previously vested in the federal administration.

He remarked that the wishes of the head of one institution were being imposed on all other institutions and the entire nation.

According to Maulana Fazl, as the federal administration surrendered its authority and it could additionally enact any other legislation whenever need arises, taking the parliament out of the equation. He remarked that it was the opposition leader's job to unite all the parties sitting on opposition benches and it was lacking there.

He remarked he met the opposition leader and discussed a joint strategy to play their role as joint opposition inside the parliament. He remarked he has proposed to the opposition leader to keep an eye on such things inside the parliament. "They have done a big damage and we do not even know what has happened, " he remarked.

In practice, the JUI-F chief underscored the importance of a solid opposition in parliament to force the administration to listen to them.

Referring to the security situation in KP, Maulana Fazl additionally criticised the formation of new provinces, saying that it was not prudent to talk concerning divisions when the house itself was on fire.

He recalled that they had additionally resisted the Fata merger with KP and the situation vindicated their stance. Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2026.

Manzoor Ali is a Peshawar-based reporter for Dawn with over 15 years of experience covering governance, climate, and the economy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He can be discovered on X at @Manzoor.

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