LAHORE: Jamaat-i-Islami’s General Secretary Liaquat Baloch said on Tuesday that stopping drone attacks and blocking Nato supply had become public opinion, adding that the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) should have lodged its complaint relating to the statement of JI’s chief with the Defence Ministry, DawnNews reported.

Speaking to media representatives in Mansoora, Lahore, Baloch said every political party had the right to express its view point and this was what the JI did.

He further said that it was a chink in the armour of a democratic government that the army could question a leader of a political party.

“If the ISPR had any objections regarding the ‘martyr’ remarks made by JI chief Munawar Hasan, they should have contacted the Defence Ministry,” the party’s general secretary said.

Moreover, he said that the JI had not yet written a letter to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to clarify its point of view and that the media would be informed once it is written.

Baloch also said that in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, a number of religious parties had changed their stance.

He moreover said that although during in camera meetings and in All Parties Conferences, agreements are reached on initiating a dialogue with the Taliban, but when it comes to following up on the matter, the other party is attacked with drones.

The JI came under the army’s firing line on Nov 10, which through the ISPR said that Munawar Hasan’s statement was “an insult to the thousands of Pakistani civilians and soldiers killed in the war against terrorism. To declare dead terrorists as martyrs make Munawar Hasan's remarks highly condemnable".

The army’s reaction was met with a rejoinder from the JI on Monday which said that the statement issued by the ISPR was a direct intervention in the country’s politics.