PESHAWAR: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Sunday that the revival of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) was a very positive development for the political scenario of the region and good news for the masses.

Speaking at a Tahaffuz Khatm-i-Nubuwat conference, he said that when the MMA — an alliance of six religious parties — was formed in 2002 it had faced hardship at national and international levels.

Islam had come under attack after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States, he added.

The JUI-F chief said secular forces got an opportunity to rule the country because of the absence of MMA in the previous two general elections held in 2008 and 2013. “Enlightened” elements had tried to change Pakistani culture only for their personal benefits, he added.

“We will kick out secular forces from the province [Khyber Pakhtunkhwa],” he said, adding that the JUI-F and other religious scholars would foil conspiracies of America.

Maulana Fazl expressed concern over a plan of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led provincial government to pay monthly honoraria to prayer leaders in mosques, saying that “it wants to buy the prayer leaders”.

He said a high-level inquiry should be conducted into the 2014 terrorist attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar. “No inquiry has so far been conducted into this gruesome attack which shows indifferent attitude of the quarters concerned.”

He said it was a very painful incident and despite the lapse of three years, parents of the children massacred were still restless.

The JUI-F chief said the issue of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) was very simple, but some ‘opportunists’ had made it complicated. He was of the opinion that any decision regarding the future of Fata should be taken in consultation with tribal people.

The conference was also addressed by federal minister Mohammad Akram Khan Durrani and Gul Naseeb Khan.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2017