LARKANA: Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan (JUP) central secretary general Maulana Shah Muhammad Awais Noorani has demanded starting proceedings of military courts in Karachi.

Speaking to journalists here on Thursday, he said the cases of Baldia Town tragedy, Timber Market, Nishtar Park and others should also be tried in military courts.

Stating that terrorists had no religion, he advocated awarding punishment to them in open. He said hangings should be carried out publicly so that others learn a lesson.

He said it was a good omen that all parties were on the same page on the need for uprooting terrorism. Pointing weakness in the witness protection law, he said witnesses received death threats and the law did not protect them.

In reply to a question, he said the JUP would never accept the Loud Speaker Act which the government was bent upon implementing. “We will oppose it,” he said.

Answering another question about seminaries, he said the Sindh chief minister should release the list of the eight per cent seminaries which were training extremists so that the public should know about them. However, he added in the same breath, according to information received by him, no seminaries were involved in it.

He called for securing the border from Karachi to Ubaro, National Highway and Super Highway. Checkpoints on the pattern of Lahore and Islamabad be established to check infiltration, he said.

Commenting on forming a new JIT to investigate the Baldia Town tragedy, he said the issue had been politicised and alleged that Governor House was pushing back the JIT report about the incident.

Answering a question about the Shikarpur immambargah attack, he called for tightening security of all places of worship like mosques, temples and churches.

“Though the JUP has many reservations about the government’s policies and performance, it will support democracy in the country,” he said.

HYDERABAD: A central committee meeting of the Sindh Taraqqi-pasand Party (STP) has expressed concern over the proposal of forming a new joint investigation team (JIT) on the Baldia factory fire case.

The committee, which met here on Thursday under chairmanship of Dr Qadir Magsi after its recent election, observed that after disclosure of the first JIT report on the incident, proposal for a new JIT was nothing but a ploy to support terrorists.

Attended by Dr Rajab Memon, Jam Abdul Fatah Samejo and Abdul Hameed Memon, the meeting noted that incidents of terrorism, lawlessness, social injustice and joblessness were increasing in the country due to ineptness and non-seriousness of the rulers.

It observed that meetings of the rulers with ethnic terrorist mafia were beyond comprehension.

It alleged that the Sindh governor had been head of the mafia and supporter and facilitator of terrorists.

SUKKUR: STP activists took out a rally in Jacobabad on Thursday against extremism and terrorism in Sindh.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2015

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