PESHAWAR, Feb 1: The Jamiat-i-Talba Arabia, an organisation which claims to be the mouthpiece of seminary students, on Thursday launched a three-phase movement aimed at what it called protecting values of Islam.

Named Tahaffuz-i-Shair-Islam Tehrik and launched on Feb 1, it would continue till March 15, provincial president of the organization Hidayatullah told a news conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Thursday.

In the first phase of the movement, he said, the students would create awareness among the people about what he called trampling of Islamic values by rulers at the behest of the Western powers. Distribution of handbills and pasting of posters across the province were other aspects of the phase, he said.

The second phase, he said, would begin from Feb 15 to March 1 in which contacts would be made with religious scholars and teachers and students of the religious institutions.

In the final phase beginning from March 1 to 15, conventions and rallies would be held at all the district levels to drum up support for the cause of the movement, he said.

He said the decision of the movement had been taken in view of what he claimed anti-Islam and anti-state policies of the government.

He said the country came into being in the name of Islam, but the “enlightened rulers” were mocking Islamic principles by retreating from “national agenda.”

He said the rulers had declared Kashmir jihad as terrorism and had changed the tack.

The JTA president also condemned the kidnapping of senior journalist Suhail Qalander and demanded of the government to ensure his immediate and safe recovery.