JI worried over security situation in Malakand

PESHAWAR: The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) has expressed concern over the increasing lawlessness in different districts of the Malakand division and vowed to fully resist any bid to push the area towards another wave of militancy.

Addressing a press conference in the presence of party leaders from all the districts of the Malakand division, the provincial deputy chief of JI and parliamentary leader in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Inayatullah Khan said Malakand was made the front-line region in the so-called war against terror and another wave of lawlessness was on the rise in the area, which had caused unrest among the people.

He warned that the JI would offer full resistance if the Malakand division was used for another international conspiracy.

Flanked by Member National Assembly from Chitral, Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali, former MNA from Lower Dir, Sahibzada Yaqub Khan, former MPA from Swat, Mohammad Ameen, JI’s Buner district President Mohammad Haleem Bacha, JI Chitral President Maulana Mohammad Javed and media coordinator Mohammad Iqbal, the JI leader said that Malakand division had been going through devastations for the last two decades.

Inayatullah Khan said that the establishment of peace in the Malakand division and elsewhere in the province was the sole responsibility of the provincial government, which, he said, was trying to shift its responsibility to the federal government and other institutions.

He said that the law and order situation was worsening in the Malakand division once again and target killing was going on. The government members have escaped to Islamabad, he added.

The JI leader said that the people of the Malakand division by holding mammoth protests had given a clear message to those at the helm of the affairs that this time they would not tolerate any misadventure.

“The JI would lead the people of Malakand division for maintaining peace and order”, he said and urged the security forces to focus attention on the restoration of peace in Malakand division for the sake of the country.

Inayatullah Khan said that the Malakand division was the major hub of economic activities in the province, but the indicators of development there were the lowest than in other areas.

He believed the division was the most underdeveloped area of the province in terms of education, health facilities, clean water, conditions of the roads and other basic necessities.

The JI leader said that the Malakand division was a tax-free region as per the Constitution of the country. But the respective departments had started deducting taxes from the salaries of the employees and implementing taxes on other goods and services in violation of the Constitution.

He urged the quarters concerned to exempt the Malakand division from all kinds of taxes for another 10 years.

During this period a mega package should be announced from the division for infrastructural development, provision of clean water, promotion of education and health facilities and poverty alleviation, he added.

He said that both the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Muslim League Nawaz governments had promised to include the Malakand division in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Project but both parties had failed to honour their promise.

Inayatullah Khan asked that the government to reconstruct the roads in the Malakand division and divide the region into two parts.