Terrorism shouldn’t be made ethnic issue: Siraj

Says enemy agents behind terrorist activities; urges Punjab, Sindh govts to review arrests of Pakhtuns, Baloch

LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami chief Senator Sirajul Haq said Friday that sooner or later the nation would come to know that all the terrorist activities in the country were the works of enemy agents like Raymond Davis, Kulbhushan Yadav and Black Water operatives. 

He was addressing a 'jirga' convened by the Jamaat-e-Islami. Held at Mansoora on Friday, the Jirga was presided over by Jamaat-e-Islami ameer Senator Sirajul Haq while other speakers, including Pakhtun Ittehad Movement chief Farooq Khan, KP leader Sahabzada Tariqullah, Arshad Khan from Buner, Badar Khan from Mohmand Agency and Anjuman-e-Tajiran Balochistan General Secretary Akbar Khan, also addressed the Jirga.

Sirajul Haq claimed the enemy of Islam, Washington, had devastated several Muslim countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and Syria by creating animosity among the people on the basis of race, caste, sect etc in recent past and now Pakistan was the foremost target. 

He warned that no war could be won without public support. He said the rulers must not forget that the enemy was trying to plunge this nation into regional, racial and ethnic divide and undermine its unity and the challenge could be faced only by maintaining a complete national unity and harmony. 

He said Pakistan was the only state which came into being on Islamic ideology, which is a nuclear power and capable of leading the Muslim world, is an eyesore for the enemy who wanted to conquer it through internal divisions. He warned that terrorism was an issue of entire nation and it should not be attributed to any group of people or projected as a conflict between Sindhi, Punjabi, Baloch or Pakhtun.

He demanded the Punjab and Sindh governments take immediate notice of the large scale police victimisation against Pakhtuns and Balochs, and stop their unjustified harassment. Sirajul Haq said Pakistanis were a peace-loving and patriotic people who had faced the conspiracies of India, Israel and the US. However, he said, because of the wrong policies and misdeeds of the rulers, Pakistan and the Punjab always earned bad name and the enemy had an opportunity to fan ethnic bias. He slated the arrests of Pakhtuns and Baloch in Punjab and Sindh under the cover of investigation and it amounted to playing with country’s solidarity.

JI Secretary General Liaqat Baloch said no patriotic citizen could differ so far as restoration of peace and the elimination of terrorism was concerned. However, he said,

anti-terrorism action had bracketed terrorism with religion, sects, mosques and seminaries and now the operation Raddul Fassad had raised ethnic and regional issues. He termed the Fata reforms a historic victory of the tribal people.

JI parliamentary leader Sahibzada Tariqullah said Pakhtuns had offered unforgettable sacrifices for Pakistan’s defence and millions of Pakhtuns were acting as unpaid soldiers of the country shoulder to shoulder with the armed forces in Fata. He demanded immediate release of national identity cards of around three and a half lakh Pakhtuns suspended by Nadra.