PESHAWAR: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Sunday that his party has serious reservations about the raids on religious seminaries in the country.

Talking to mediapersons following the party meeting at JUI-F provincial secretariat here, Mr Fazl said that the seminaries were being linked with terrorism and extremism under a western agenda.

He said that almost all religious seminaries were registered and even the federal interior minister had said that only a small percentage of them had issues. He said that despite all this about 800 religious seminaries were raided across Punjab during the past few days. He called for implementation of the 2010 agreement in this regard and said that madaris should not be harassed.

The JUI-F chief said that action being taken against mosques and madaris was a question mark over the Islamic identity of the country and inimical to the Constitution.

Says almost all seminaries are registered

He said that he had tried to play the mediator’s role in talks between the government and Muttahida Qaumi Movement and that he had a responsibility to bring both the sides to the negotiating table. He, however, said that he was not aware of what led to the failure of talks. He said that all contentious issues should be resolved through a dialogue.

Mr Fazl also appreciated the Pakistan Army’s role in restoring peace in the country and said that the security forces’ action against anti-state elements had improved its image. He appreciated the government’s economic performance as positive and said that benefits of economic stabilisation should reach common people so that unemployment and inflation could be controlled.

The JUI-F chief appreciated $46 billion Chinese investment for the construction of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. He demanded early start of work on Mianwali-Mughalpur section of the route as per the agreement reached in the all-party conference.

He also asked the government to take immediate steps for repatriation of internally displaced persons. Answering a question about the arrest of Pakistan Peoples Party leaders, he said that arrests of politicians on the charges of corruption and without any evidence should be stopped.

“The political leaders are being nabbed on the charges of corruption since Pervez Musharraf days, while religious leaders are targeted since the 9/11 incident,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2015

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