MULTAN, Nov 19: PPP’s central leader and MNA Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi has alleged that the government has double standard to deal with the subject of religious extremism and seminaries.

He told newsmen at a press conference here on Wednesday that the government has recently banned three religious organizations on the charge of working under new titles after being banned for ‘fanning religious extremism and sectarianism’.

“If the banned organizations were promoting terrorism, why did the government let them work under new names with the same leadership and manifestos?” he asked.

“Candidates of two of the three banned outfits contested the last general elections from the platform of their renamed organizations. Some of them were released from prisons to contest the elections. Some victorious candidates of these organizations joined the treasury benches in the National Assembly,” he said.

The government introduced laws through an ordinance in the year 2002 for compulsory registration of seminaries. After a short while, the mandatory registration condition was waived off.

Mr Qureshi said the government did not present any proof to establish that the outlawed organizations were actually ‘terrorist outfits’.

He was of the view that most seminaries in the country had nothing to do with terrorism. Instead, the seminaries were imparting religious and worldly knowledge to the poor.

“I am not supporting any terrorist organization or an act of terrorism but I urge the people at the helms of affair to cure the disease by analyzing its root cause instead of jumping to any conclusion by mere apparent symptoms.

“If the social disparities are not redressed and democratic forums are not used to resolve political issues, the depressed sections of the society are left with no option but to react violently.”

He criticized the government for ‘detaining people for political reasons,’ and said both Javed Hashmi and Allama Sajid Naqvi should be given a fair chance to defend themselves against the charges levelled against them.

He claimed that federal law ministry had reported to the NA speaker that issuance of production order of a member of the house was his prerogative. The speaker now should immediately issue production order of Javed Hashmi.

Mr Qureshi said it was deplorable that Allama Naqvi had been taken into custody just because he was named in an FIR.

The rule of law in a society could be upheld only through an independent judiciary. Ironically, the judiciary in Pakistan had always surrendered to the ‘political expediency’ in the name of doctrine of necessity. He said big injustices in the human history were either committed in the battlefields or in the court rooms.

“The trial of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and his consequent execution is one such example,” he said. Demanding release of Asif Ali Zardari, he said there should be an end to his victimization.