NAUSHAHRO FEROZE, May 24: A leader of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI) Dr Khalid Mehmood Soomro has said that the government is using the Imam of Lal Masjid, who he disclosed had been close to Gen Ziaul Haq and had been a government employee, to help it create an excuse for attacking all the Madressas of the country.

Mr Soomro who is general secretary of the Sindh chapter of JUI told journalists in Kandiaro on Wednesday that the tug-of-war between Lal Masjid, Madressah Hafsa administration and the government was a ‘farce’, citing some pictures of the burqa-clad female students of Madressa Hafsa, which he claimed showed some commandos standing in the background.

He said that according to Islamic law, the judges once appointed by the government, were free to dispense justice but regretted that the actions of Gen Pervez Musharraf, the government and its allies against the Chief Justice of Pakistan had ashamed the nation.

He said that the prime minister who visited Karachi after May 12 bloodbath, which claimed more than 40 lives, did neither condole with the bereaved families nor bothered to meet with injured people.

He said that Gen Musharraf had deliberately created the judicial crisis to perpetuate his rule and demanded that the army should go back to barracks and Musharraf should resign.

ENCROACHMENT: Naushahro Feroze district council on Thursday passed a resolution demanding removal of encroachments from the playground of a high school.

The council’s session was presided over by convener Ali Khan Almani.

Union Council Phul Nazim Mohammad Hayat Phul tabled the resolution, which the council adopted unanimously.

A minority member Eidan Das complained that a former mukhtiarkar making attempts at encroaching upon and occupying the minority people’s graveyard.

Riaz Korai said that people were not getting due facilities at the Moro hospital because it had not yet been given the status of taluka hospital. Besides, some people had encroached upon the area adjacent to the hospital, which should be removed, he added.

Abdul Ghafoor Dahraj demanded that Baitul Maal funds should immediately be distributed among the deserving and the needy through UC nazims as the poor were facing hardships.

He raised the question where the interest on millions of rupees of school management funds lying in the banks was being utilised.

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