PTI's Naeemul Haque defends calling Mullah Mansour 'martyr'
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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) spokesman Naeemul Haque on Thursday defended his stance over calling Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Mansour a 'martyr'.
"Fighting to liberate your homeland is a just cause," Naeem told Dawn.com, a day after he spoke on a television show and called the head of the outlawed Taliban a 'martyr'.
Related: Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Mansour killed in Balochistan
The PTI spokesman told Dawn.com he believes 'shaheed' (martyr) is a "political term" and even Indian Muslim soldiers killed in Kargil by Pakistani forces were called 'shaheed'.
He justified his position by saying that till a few weeks ago Pakistani authorities were talking to the same Afghan Taliban in Murree in the presence of American and Afghan officials.
Related: First round of Afghan govt, Taliban dialogue concludes in Murree
Mansour, who was elevated to the leadership of the Afghan Taliban after a bitter power struggle, was killed on May 21 in a US drone strike in Balochistan province.
The raid was the first known US assault on a top Afghan Taliban leader on Pakistani soil. Pakistan had lambasted the US over the drone attack, calling it a violation of its sovereignty.
Authorisation for the strike came directly from US President Barack Obama.
Obama later claimed that Mansour had rejected efforts "to seriously engage in peace talks and end the violence that has taken the lives of countless innocent Afghan men, women and children"
The statement and the uproar
During the Capital TV show 'Seedhi Baat', Naeemul Haq had said that President Mamnoon Hussain during his address to the joint session of the parliament did not express his opinion over two of the major issues — the Panama papers and the US drone strike in Balochistan.
"The US drone strike in Balochistan in which Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Mansour was killed, I'd rather say was martyred," Naeemul Haque notified.
His statement created an uproar over social media, with some criticising him for his sympathies with the militant group while others suggesting it was a slip of tongue.
It is pertinent to note that, Naeemul Haque's party also came under criticism when in 2013, the party chief Imran Khan called for immediate blockade of Nato supplies after Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief's killing in a US drone strike in North Waziristan area.
Religious parties like Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) and Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) had openly termed TTP chief Hakeemullah a 'martyr' following his death.
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On DawnNews
Comments (63) Closed
Jun 02, 2016 10:51pm
Agreed..
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Jun 02, 2016 10:53pm
Martyr, for what? Not so popular in international arena. Pick up anrpy international newspaper and you will see martyrs everywhere.
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Jun 02, 2016 11:17pm
Today even Hindus use the word "Shaheed" which is imported from Islamic side.
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Jun 02, 2016 11:24pm
@Naxalite Press Trust of India
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Jun 02, 2016 11:26pm
I mean PTI
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Jun 02, 2016 11:27pm
no wonder why PTI took 7 hundred votes in karachi where as other took in thousands.
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Jun 02, 2016 11:37pm
Makes perfect sense and well explained!
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Jun 03, 2016 12:00am
PTI Naeem ul Haque is a brave man. Taliban who are fighting Foreign occupiers to liberate their motherland are truly a freedom fighters and if they die defending their motherland than they are Martyr
Mr. Haque is fully justified in calling them a Martyr.
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Jun 03, 2016 12:12am
this sort of twisted mind-set caused lot of problems and our politician still not honest enough to confront it
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Jun 03, 2016 12:15am
I pity those people who support the wrong interpretation of Islam, who have killed women and kids indiscriminately. It is easy to support them while staying in your palaces, but hard to imagine yourself in the place of those people who were robbed of their lives,
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Jun 03, 2016 12:20am
If Taliban are martyrs then who is the real culprit. Why we are afraid to name them or we don't want to name our masters. Then it is also disloyal to go against our masters.
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Jun 03, 2016 12:23am
i voted for PTI in 2013 but yesterday my conscience woke up and today i voted for MQM in P.S 106 bi-election.....i do not regret after seeing this.
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Jun 03, 2016 12:27am
Still no shame after what taliban did in APS, badabair, mardan. Taliban supporters will not get a chance in pakistan. Look at embarrasing defeat of pti in karachi with merely 800 votes or so. In bannu already pti was embarrased by crwod.
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Jun 03, 2016 12:30am
Mr naeem what about APS. Are students 'shaheed' or the attackers who got killed are shaheed?
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Jun 03, 2016 12:29am
Mullah Masour was shaheed. When were they fighting against Russia, we and US provide weapons, funding them and also provide fighters at that time we called them shaheed and now they are consider non-shaheed as our uncle saam (US) called them terrorist.
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Jun 03, 2016 12:30am
Trying to divert attention from karavhi embarrasing defeat where they bag only 700 seats and others seeral thousand. Mr khan leave corrups, kick out corrups and dont attaract corrups like from ppp. Still you have the chance if you return to basic ideology. Also jon performance in kpk is hurting pti big time
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Jun 03, 2016 12:30am
@fida USA they have killed 80 thousand pakistanies including 300 children in peshawar school.....taliban is the worst thing in world....
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Jun 03, 2016 12:32am
Embarassing defeat in karachi. Talibans wont help you pti rather their support is fast drowinibg yoir image
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Jun 03, 2016 12:39am
@fida USA Taliban are also heavily involved in the drug trade and are effectively the armed militias of drug lords
Mullah mansour was criticized by Taliban factions for promoting this an being involved directly in this
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Jun 03, 2016 12:39am
Bla bla bla statement. At least, if he is able to understand what he is speaking, it is sufficient. God save the country.
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Jun 03, 2016 12:39am
Proper office for talibam in peshawar. Had ik been in power we wouldbhave seen taliban ministers and president would have been mullah mansur. Ik's childish approach is fast drowinig pti image. Look at karachi results any way less than a huge embarassment?
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Jun 03, 2016 12:41am
Then why are you taking so much aid and weapons from US when you are calling US as a occupational force? Bangladesh has a very good clarity on matters like this and you are confused. No wonder they are ahead of you in all aspects!
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Jun 03, 2016 12:42am
Non perofrmance, taliban support, isreal support, feel proud by attracting corrupts from ppp. Still they think they shall win. Not in a million years. Hats off to.pti supporters for following so blindly.
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Jun 03, 2016 12:43am
Simple diveging attention from embarrasing defeat in karachi
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Jun 03, 2016 12:45am
@fida USA he threw a glass of water at somebody at the talk show,he used vulgar language there..he is not brave,he is being the pure PTI worker.
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Jun 03, 2016 12:45am
@Naxalite Urdu is an official language for us too.
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Jun 03, 2016 12:46am
That is why pti is now being.left alone. Latet defats also indicate pti failed policies. Even in peshawar they faced heavy defeat and now today in karachi onky 700 votes. Pti thinks its popular. Ik come out of facebook andbtwitter false support. See your ground reality and reality is in karachi you get only 700 to 800 votes . And you are thinking to compete pmln ?
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Jun 03, 2016 12:55am
Politics of appeasing the right-wing base, appeasing the taliban sympathizers.
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Jun 03, 2016 12:56am
And what was that just cause that Mullah Mansur died carrying out? Please enlighten us.
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Jun 03, 2016 01:00am
@pakistani youth PTI managed less votes because of rigging and thuggery by MQM. We all know that.
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Jun 03, 2016 01:06am
They are shaheed or not, only God clearly knows. But For his info there were numerous attacks carried out by Talibans that killed innocent civilians in Afghanistan. The attacks in Kabul parliament, during a football match etc in which many innocent people dies. Ask from any Afghan and listen to their views on Talibans. Afghans voted for democracy and elected a president. Talibans there are now fighting Afghan Army, the same way TTP fighting against Pak Army.
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Jun 03, 2016 01:11am
U Turn
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Jun 03, 2016 01:25am
Too much division,too much destruction!!!
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Jun 03, 2016 01:43am
This is beyond any sense. By calling terrorist a Martyr is an insult to the true martyrs
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Jun 03, 2016 01:42am
I agree 100% with the statement made by the leader of PTI. Many of our readers do not understand the meaning of Martyr.
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Jun 03, 2016 01:48am
@fida USA Let refersh your memory, this is the same Group that killed Afgan Hazara in thousands....
Yet you say Taliban fight for Afgan Freedom
What Freedom ?
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Jun 03, 2016 01:56am
For everyone's information on 20th May Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz had said that the Afghan Taliban have not yet responded positively to the efforts made by the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) to revive talks between them and the Afghan government.So it is very clear that MM was not willing to talk
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Jun 03, 2016 02:12am
@Naxalite
Ch Ch Ch...."Shaheed" is "Urdu" word, an Indian language.
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Jun 03, 2016 02:18am
Not that surprising considering the PTI was quite sympathetic to the Taliban in the beginning. They are either naive or else incompetent for not understanding the full implications of their actions.
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Jun 03, 2016 02:26am
It's a new low for PTI
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Jun 03, 2016 02:31am
PTI never condemned APS and BKU attacks. Surely it wasn't a slip of tongue rather the internal sympathies from the bottom of their hearts. Pathetic.
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Jun 03, 2016 02:33am
@fida USA how about the killings of innocent Pakistanis by Taliban??? Don't go so low to defend the brutal killers of innocent 142 children in APS and innocent students in BKU. Surely the wounds of victim families have not healed yet.
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Jun 03, 2016 02:39am
@fida USA With that mentality, you pretend to live in USA? They just killed 16 people out of a box. If they are liberators what would the other people of Afghanistan be called? What is wrong with President Ghani--he is educated, sophisticated, and has a decent personality. No liberators killed innocent people. What would you call him and his people who are non-Taliban?
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Jun 03, 2016 03:07am
So when Taliban kills our children in schools they are barbaric cold blooded killers and when they go into Afghanistan and do the same they are martyrs?
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Jun 03, 2016 03:52am
Cat is out of the bag. PTI is a pro Taliban party and its leader Imran Khan has a soft corner for them.
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Jun 03, 2016 04:47am
Mullah Mansour is no martyr, by killing innocent lives you don't get martyr title.
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Jun 03, 2016 05:13am
I don't know about martyr but our govt did not had the guts to stand up to US and give them a hard time for violating our sovereignty......all this mess has been created by the US starting Russian invasion and brutally killing of Afghan..... US 's only interest was to stop Russia from reaching warm waters...... and as far as 9/11 is concerned I can bet my life over it that US itself created that drama...... did they find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq...... what is the outcome of 10 years long so called war on terror in Afghanistan....... only objective is to destabilise this region and create atmosphere of distrust among Muslim nations
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Jun 03, 2016 05:21am
Why are you surprised . Not too long ago PTI wanted to open TTP offices in Pakistan. Which country is TTP trying to liberate?.
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Jun 03, 2016 05:26am
One Mullah defends the other Mullah but how a terrorist can be called 'martyr'?
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Jun 03, 2016 06:32am
To call anyone "Shaheed" even if their hands are covered with blood of
children, women and elderly is going too far. People killed by Taliban are
also termed as Shaheed. So to call the leader of Taliban as Shaheed is not correct.
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Jun 03, 2016 06:46am
what a confused state of affairs. how about the same guys killing innocent people of Pakistan.
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Jun 03, 2016 06:48am
The same fighters were respectfully called. Shaheed when they fought pro American war with soviet unions. Fight then and now is no different
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Jun 03, 2016 07:30am
well he has justified his statement, as the pak and US government both were involved in negotiation process then there is no need of such strikes that could derail the process of peace talks
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Jun 03, 2016 08:09am
@Naxalite is it even relevant here
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Jun 03, 2016 09:59am
what about those that are killed by Talibans
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Jun 03, 2016 02:23pm
@ali fakhar Don't worry, he is in USA as his identity says, people like such are the first to label "criminals" as martyrs, I won't be surprised if people like him also suggest that APS happened due to the fault of APS students themselves.
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Jun 03, 2016 02:26pm
@imran ali probably they did not vote for PTI, hence they are not martyrs according to people like this person named in the article, if PTI knows ground reality, it will find people are starting to hate them even more than PML N and PPP
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Jun 03, 2016 04:32pm
You cant understand the meaning and level of a Martyr. Please don't politicize it
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Jun 03, 2016 04:46pm
@Divergence - The biggest bane is the corruption of rulers. Nothing comes closer. Martyr is a very misused word and being used lightly by many.
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Jun 03, 2016 06:03pm
@Harmony-1© terrorism and corruption are very closely linked, you will find terrorism being financed by most richest of all.
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Jun 03, 2016 08:27pm
@fida USA Sitting in the comfort of USA it is easy to say a terrorist martyr ask those people who are living in Afghanistan who is martyr and who is not ? they have been facing terrorist attacks by Taliban on daily basis and lost many family members in suicide bombing
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Jun 03, 2016 09:11pm
@Rashid Minhas Yes Mr. Rashid they were not Shaheed when they were fighting proxy war in 80's and still they are not Shaheed when they are being eliminated by their ex-masters
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Jun 04, 2016 07:02pm
The sacred meaning of ' shaheed' has become a laughing stock in Pakistan. How can one be called shaheed' who has himself taken so many innocent life.
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