Siraj asks govt to expose pro-terrorist seminaries

LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq on Saturday said it is the duty of the federal interior minister to inform the nation about the 10 percent seminaries that are allegedly involved in terrorism.
Talking to reporters at Mansoora, Siraj said the 21st amendment has shaken national unity and harmony against terrorism. He said under the pressure of the colonial powers, the rulers were talking of squeezing religion and the government was preparing cases against families of three million seminary students.
He urged the government to take effective steps to achieve a national consensus on controversial issues and review the 21st amendment.
“I do not see any reason why the government should have brought in religion in the war against terrorism,” he maintained.
The JI chief noted that India was carrying out subversive activities in different parts of Pakistan including Balochistan, and the Indian National Security Adviser had himself admitted this.
He further said the clamping of Governor’s Rule in Kashmir had proved all apprehensions about Narindera Modi’s government as correct.
However, he said, that Modi should realise that such measures and denying the Kashmiris their right to self determination could not restore normalcy in the Indian-held Kashmir. Siraj said that after the Peshawar incident, the government should have taken a firm stand against terrorism. He said the JI Shoora has decided to observe the year 2015 as the year of peace.
He said he has floated the idea months before and if the government had made such an announcement, this would have given the nation much hope and courage. He said the JI had also decided to start a movement at the national level for making Pakistan an Islamic and prosperous country, saying that the party would unite the poor and oppressed masses against the prevailing system.
Siraj said the JI was also preparing a youth policy to unite the country’s young men at a platform for the solution to their problems.
He said the delay in the setting up of a judicial commission to probe into rigging would only harm the government. He said if the government was not serious, the others would be compelled to adopt the path of protest.
On the Balochistan situation, he said that talks were going on with the national leaders for the restoration of peace in the province. “We have decided to take a delegation of national leaders to the estranged Baloch leaders hiding in mountains and caves, during the month of February, and we would request them to join the national mainstream,” he added.