January 29, 2002	Tuesday	Ziqa’ad 14, 1422

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PESHAWAR, Jan 28: The Hizbut Tahrir has said the interior ministries of the Muslim countries have turned into “symbols of suppression and fear and their working as tools of the rulers is repugnant to the teachings of Islam.”

Speaking at a news conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Monday, Hizb spokesman Zulfiqar Ali remarked that the aim of the interior ministries had been confined to protecting the rulers.

He said the ministries were used to harass, torture and punish anti-status quo forces in the Muslim world.

He observed that under the Islamic rules, those ministries were bound to protect the life and property of all citizens — Muslims and non-Muslims — and  control the enemies of society, but under the secular order, police and intelligence agencies were meant to protect the rulers instead of the people.

At present, the government considered the religious parties as a real threat to its role in Afghanistan, he said and added that the US was extending support to the military rulers and their political supporters in Pakistan.

The Hizb spokesman said his organization had written a letter to Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider about his ministry’s recent drive against the religious extremists and the ban on militant organizations.

He said it was their duty to ask the rulers to desist from what he called ‘‘anti-Islamic” moves against the Muslims. “The rulers have become a part of the crusade launched by the Western nations against the Muslim.’’