LAHORE: Being seen as an indirect support of Zarb-i-Azb military operation in North Waziristan, the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) has called upon militants active in the tribal belt and elsewhere in the country to shun their terrorist activities and instead join the national mainstream.

“I appeal to militants hailing from tribal areas and other parts of the country to give up the way of getting their demands met at gunpoint and instead use the people’s force for joining the mainstream,” JI emir Sirajul Haq said after a consultative meeting of the party on the army operation here on Monday.

“It’s also need of the hour that they (the militants) play their role in protecting lives instead of confronting the state,” he emphasised.

Syed Munawwar Hasan, former emir of the JI, became controversial after he declared militants being killed in clashes with security forces as martyrs.

Rejecting the use of force, violence and war both by the state and non-state actors as against wisdom and prudence, Mr Haq said that the Nawaz government should have taken the national leadership and parliament into confidence before going for such a big decision (of army operation).

He called for keeping the talks option open despite the operation and seeking help and cooperation from tribal elders, who had been safeguarding interests of Pakistan since decades.

He said military operations in tribal areas were going on since 2004, but the situation there was becoming more complicated with the passage of time.

Recalling the unanimous mandate the political leadership of the country had given to the government in September last year for holding talks with militants, the JI leaders accused the government of not showing sincerity from the outset and that its stance had been like “one step forward and two steps back”.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2014