DERA ISMAIL KHAN, March 14: Religious parties will raise the issue of the ongoing operation against fugitive Al Qaeda and Taliban elements in Dera Ismail Khan and the South Waziristan Agency in the National Assembly on Monday, says MMA's General Secretary Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

He said this at the annual function of the Madressah Jamia Usmania Muryali here on Saturday night. Accusing the personnel of a covert agency of violating the sanctity of a mosque in Dera Ismail Khan, he said they raided the mosque and its adjacent Madressah and arrested innocent people earlier on Friday.

Blaming the rulers of pursuing American agenda, he said that such a policy would prove to be harmful for the country's integrity. He called for the immediate release of detained persons, saying that the federal government would be responsible for any untoward incident as a result of the ongoing search operation.

Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker of the NWFP Assembly Ikramullah Shahid also criticized the operation, accusing the MMA government of having failed to protect the sanctity of religious institutions in the province.

He was talking to journalists here on Sunday. MNA Hamidul Haq, MMA's provincial president Qazi Abdul Latif and provincial general secretary of the JUI (Samiul Haq group) Maulana Yousaf Shah were also present on the occasion.

Mr Shahid expressed apprehensions regarding widening the scope of the search and arrest operation currently being confined to Dera Ismail Khan and Wana, saying similar operations would also be conducted in other areas of the province.

FOUR RELEASED: Four of the seven people arrested in a raid at the Madressah Farooq Azam on Diyal Road here on Friday were released on Saturday.