Jamaat-i-Islami doesn’t ‘believe in politics of religion’

LAHORE: In contrast to the very nomenclature of the party, the emir of Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) says he does not believe in the politics of religion.

“I don’t believe in bifurcating politics between religious and non-religious, nor is such a division beneficial for the country and society,” Sirajul Haq said while talking to Dawn here.

“The issue of nationalities is also artificial, as each society is divided only between the oppressors and the oppressed… and there is a need for uniting the oppressed classes against the oppressors,” he articulated his philosophy as did socialists, who employed the terms ‘haves and have-nots’ for their class-based political theory.

Replying to a query about persistent failure of the party in attracting voters, the JI chief criticised the election system that he said was vulnerable to manipulation by the influential.

“In the present system, politics itself as well as voters are held hostage by those wielding power as well as the filthy rich.”

Asked why the party was gradually losing support among Lahorites as it had been securing a couple of seats from the city in the past, Siraj said they were now focusing on Lahore and vowed to negate analysis about the party’s losing graph in Lahore in the next general elections.

Ruling out possibilities of any electoral alliance as premature in the wake of local body elections, he said provincial chapters of the JI had been empowered to take their decisions. He also affirmed that as the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter had an understanding with their ally, Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), it would most likely make adjustments with them in the province. While the leadership of Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan would decide later.

Talking about Karachi, the JI chief said only an operation against criminals across the board could return the city to normalcy.

Doubting the intentions of rulers, he alleged that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) had been blackmailing successive governments to keep its crimes under wraps and that the current Sindh government could not do anything about it as it was more concerned about itself than the masses. The PML-N, he added, was wary of the MQM’s strength in parliament.

He said no political party should be allowed to have militant wings and clarifies that the Islami Jamiat Talaba, of which he also remained the central president, was a student organisation not a militant wing of the JI.

He also said the JI did not believe in occupying power through gun and disclosed that after being elected as the party’s emir in April 2014, many forces, including militants, had written to him for working together to enforce Islam in Pakistan through gun power. But, he said, he did not respond to them.

In response to a query about prosecution in Bangladesh of those who stood with Islamabad during the 1971 war and silence of the Pakistan government on the issue, he said each patriotic citizen was worried about the situation. Asked why his party remained silent, he claimed the policy had been adopted on the advice of the Bangladesh JI, which feared their support could worsen the situation there. He, however, claimed behind the scene he had talked to Saudi Arabia, Turkey, China, and international institutions as well as local authorities, but to no avail.

Muttahida attempts to meet PM fail

KARACHI: Attempts made by the beleaguered Muttahida Qaumi Movement to seek an audience with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif remained unsuccessful as he flew back to the capital following a couple of high-profile engagements at an airbase on Wednesday.

The PM spent a busy day in Karachi. He was the chief guest at a Karachi Stock Exchange award function and chaired a meeting of the Sindh apex committee held at an untraditional venue of the PAF Base Faisal instead of Sindh Governor House before returning to Islamabad in the evening.

Under a cloud following startling disclosures by death row prisoner Saulat Mirza, Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad was conspicuous by his absence from the meeting at the airbase.

Just a day before the PM’s visit, MQM leader Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui told the media that his party had requested the prime minister to give them time to listen to their grievances about the Karachi operation. “We have a lot to tell,” he said.

Besides raising other issues, said MQM sources, the party wanted to present documentary evidence to the PM with regard to the Rangers allegations about the seizure of unlicensed weapons in their March 11 raid on Nine Zero, the MQM headquarters.

However, the party faced disappointment when no one from the federal government informed them about the fate of their request.

“The Rabita [coordination] committee did not get a positive response [from the PM] when it sought time for a meeting with the prime minister,” MQM leader Syed Faisal Subzwari told reporters outside the Sindh Assembly building on Wednesday.

The sources said the MQM believed that they were not given time because of the fact that the PM did not want to meet an MQM delegation.

“This is not because of his [the PM’s] busy schedule ... we think he [the PM] avoided us because he did not want to displease the powers that be,” said an MQM source.

Protest against ‘media trial’

Members of the Sindh Assembly belonging to the MQM staged a protest demonstration outside the assembly building against “the media trial” of the MQM.

Carrying placards inscribed with slogans such as “We reject biased journalism” and “We want justice”, the lawmakers protested against private news channel ARY News.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Subzwari said his party would not sit idle over what he described as the media trial of MQM chief Altaf Hussain and party workers. He demanded that the media trial of the MQM be stopped forthwith.

He said the pro-Taliban parties and some leaders were plotting to crush the MQM.

The MQM’s parliamentary party leader in the Sindh Assembly, Syed Sardar Ahmed, said that criminals should be brought before courts and not before the media for the purpose of character assassination.

Rangers patrol Nine Zero

A contingent of the Rangers and police patrolled the Nine Zero area on Wednesday to see whether the MQM had removed barriers from various roads and streets.

Initially, the arrival of masked soldiers in a convoy fuelled speculation that the paramilitary troops were about to carry out another raid on the MQM headquarters.

However, some MQM leaders met them and showed them the “barrier-free” areas.

An MQM leader later told Dawn that the party headquarters had become vulnerable to an attack after the removal of barricades and the patrol by the law enforcement agencies was part of security arrangements for the Nine Zero.

Sharif approves expansion of operation in Sindh

KARACHI: Prime Minis­ter Nawaz Sharif approved on Wednesday expansion of the operation against militants and terrorists to other areas of Sindh.

He vowed to take the operation in Karachi to its logical end and continue it till elimination of the last terrorist and restoration of peace in the city.

Presiding over a meeting held at the Faisal Airbase to review the law and order situation in Karachi, the prime minister expressed satisfaction over the falling crime rate in the wake of the operation. He said there should be a fast track policy to capture the terrorists who had fled the Karachi operation and taken refuge in other parts of Sindh.

It was for the first time since the installation of the PML-N government at the centre that a meeting on the law and order situation was not held at the Governor’s House or the Chief Minister’s House.

The meeting was held soon after a function organised by the Karachi Stock Exchange to distribute awards to the top-25 listed companies. Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad attended the function, but left for the Governor’s House before the start of the law and order meeting. It was attended by Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, Corps Comm­ander Karachi Lt Gen Nav­eed Mukhtar, Chief Secret­ary Siddique Memon and Rangers Director General Maj Gen Bilal Akbar.

According to sources, the prime minister was briefed on the target operation against criminals by the Corps Commander and DG Rangers. The chief secretary informed the meeting about the progress in implementation of the National Action Plan against terrorism.

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Meeting on law and order, held at Faisal Airbase, goes ahead without governor

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The meeting also reviewed the situation in the aftermath of a recent raid on the MQM headquarters Nine Zero and its adjoining areas. It was informed about the arrest of convicted people and other criminals from there, investigation and presentation of the accused before courts, cases registered against them in different police stations , recovery of weapons, removal of barriers from different areas in Karachi and crackdown on criminal elements and banned organisations.

The prime minister expre­ssed satisfaction over the falling rate of crimes in the wake of the operation and praised the performance of law-enforcement agencies, especially Rangers.

He said law-enforcement agencies would be provided every possible facility for restoring peace in Karachi.

Mr Sharif also lauded the performance of the chief minister.

According to the sources, the meeting decided to evolve a joint strategy in consultation with other provincial governments and intelligence and law-enforcement agencies for arresting the escaped terrorists.

The meeting also decided that there would be no discrimination and all criminal elements and their patrons regardless of their party affiliation would be arrested and taken to task.

It decided to improve the checking system on all exit and entry points of Karachi and on other routes of the province so that no terrorists could escape.

Investigation would be made more effective and challans of the accused produced in courts as early as possible.

Earlier addressing the KSE function, Prime Minis­ter Nawaz said the Karachi operation had been launched after consultations with all political parties and it was not against any party, but criminal elements.

He said his government’s main objective was to develop and put the country on the road to progress and prosperity. The government would utilise all available resources to bring improvement to every sector, he said, adding that policies being pursued by his government had started yielding positive results and were also being appreciated by various international institutions.

He said that in the past no attention had been given to resolve water and power crises, but now “we are pursuing long- and short-term policies and working on different projects to generate more electricity from different sources, including solar and windmills, coal and LNG”.

“The people of Karachi are satisfied with the operation,” he said.

250 farmers protesting against high pesticide price arrested

LAHORE: Police detained over 250 protesting farmers after severely beating many of them outside the press club here on Wednesday.

Hundreds of farmers were holding a peaceful demonstration against denial of permission to hold a convention at Nasser Bagh in protest against overbilling for agriculture tube-wells and increasing prices of fertiliser and pesticides.

The ‘arrested’ farmers were taken to various police stations but no case was lodged against them till late in the evening and the Punjab chief minister ordered their release.

The protesting farmers were led by office-bearers of the Pakistan Kisan Ittehad (PKI).

A large number of personnel from various police stations arrived during the farmers’ protest and thrashed dozens of them.

According to witnesses, the situation remained tense after the police bundled the PKI’s office-bearers and other farmers into prison vans. They said the police then resorted to baton-charge, leaving some farmers injured.

PKI chairman Chaudhry Anwar told reporters that the demands of the farmers were genuine. “We want to hold a peaceful farmers’ convention in the city.”

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Permission denied to hold a convention at Nasser Bagh against overbilling for agriculture tube-wells and increasing prices of farm inputs

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He said farmers were raising slogans against the government for not allowing them to hold the event when police started beating them with clubs.

“Police arrested more than 250 farmers and took them to the Qila Gujjar Singh, Racecourse, Anarkali, Ghari Shahu and Civil Lines police stations,” he said.

He termed the police action aggressive and said the arrest reflected the Punjab government’s cruel policy towards the poor.

BLOCKADE: Late in the night, a heavy contingent of police blocked the Multan Road to stop farmers from entering the provincial capital to protest against the arrests.

Deputy Inspector General Haider Ashraf led the policemen who placed containers on the road after reports that hundreds of farmers had started marching towards Lahore from Okara and other districts.

A large number of police officers were present to cope with any law and order situation.

According to sources, the DIG put the police on alert with a strict message that no farmer should be allowed to enter the city.

Prisoner executed in Faisalabad

FAISALABAD: A convicted murderer has been executed in the Central Jail Faisalabad on Thursday morning.

Muhammad Afzal, a resident of Sialkot, had been remained on death row for around two decades.

He was found guilty of shooting a man, Muhammad Saleem, dead in 1995 over an old rivalry. and awarded the death sentence by district and session courts on May 25, 1995.

The review petitions of the accused were turned down by the higher and superior courts. President of Pakistan had also rejected his mercy appeal.

The last meeting of the condemned prisoner with his family had been arranged on Wednesday.

Some 8,000 condemned prisoners are still in a death row in various jails across the country.

Earlier the ruling PML-N government had lifted the moratorium on the death penalty on Dec 17, 2014, in terrorism related cases only, in the wake of a Taliban attack at the Army Public School in Peshawar, which claimed 141 lives, most of them children.

Later, the government completely reinstated capital punishment for all offences that entail the death penalty.

The United Nations, the European Union, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have urged the government to re-impose the moratorium on the death penalty.

Plea seeking MQM’s dissolution filed in apex court

ISLAMABAD: Following a Rangers raid on the headquarters of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the alleged recovery of a heavy cache of weapons, an Islamabad-based lawyer has filed a petition calling for disbanding the party.

In his petition, Advocate Tariq Asad maintains that it has been proved prima facie that the MQM — under the leadership of Altaf Hussain — was involved in terrorism and that their actions, particularly instigating people to violence, were heinous offences under the law of the land.

Mr Asad points out that during the raid on Nine Zero, more than 100 terrorists, including notorious target killers and other wanted men, were found and a large quantity of weapons, ammunition and Nato weaponry was recovered.

The petitioner referred to the ‘confessions of Saulat Mirza and others’ and said that in view of the ‘terrorist activities’, the MQM was liable to be dissolved under Article 15 of the Political Parties Order (PPO) 2002.

Under Article 15 of the PPO, when the federal government is satisfied that a political party is foreign-funded, has been formed or is operating in a manner prejudicial to the sovereignty or integrity of Pakistan or is indulging in terrorism, it makes such a declaration by a notification in the official gazette.

Within 15 days of the declaration, the matter is to be referred to the Supreme Court and if it upholds the declaration, the political party stands dissolved forthwith.

The Supreme Court has been requested to summon the entire record of the raid from Rangers and intelligence agencies, and after satisfying itself that the material and proofs were sufficient to establish that the MQM was involved in terrorist activities, it may direct the federal government to issue a declaration under Article 15 of the PPO.

The court has also been asked to summon the MQM chief and directions have been sought for an investigation into and action against MQM activists that “Saulat Mirza and Amir Khan had implicated” in their statements.

The petitioner also requested the court to issue directions to the chairmen of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to block the televised and telephonic speeches of Altaf Hussain.

Instructions were also sought for the Sindh government, asking it not to name after Altaf Hussain two proposed universities — one in Hyderabad and the other in Karachi.

The petitioner also raised many constitutional questions, including whether a British national was entitled to remain a leader of a political party in Pakistan and instigate the people to create a law and order situation through telephonic addresses.

Intense Khyber operation enters last phase

PESHAWAR: Fighting for the control of what appears to be the last stronghold of Pakistani militants in Tirah Valley has been intense as the military claims to have cleared two-thirds of what could be the last leg of the large-scale operation across the seven tribal regions.

The valley with dense forests and dominating mountain features, stretching over roughly 1500 square kilometres, has been serving as the last redoubt to many of the Pakistani militant groups and their foreign allies pushed out from their previous sanctuaries in Pakistani tribal regions along the Afghan border.

“This is the last of the major battles we have fought against militants,” a senior security official said. “And this has been the most intense as well,” he said, requesting he not be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

In one battle that continued for three days for the control of a strategic ridge that overlooks the plains of Peshawar and Afgha­nistan’s eastern Nangarhar province, Pakistani troops suffered one of their heaviest casualties.

Sixteen soldiers, including a major of the Pakistan Army, lost their lives while dozen others sustained injuries, including two officers. Reinforcements were sent in and the Kidney Ridge as the military calls it for its shape that had changed hands was recaptured.

Government officials say Operation Khyber-2, a sequel to Operation Khyber-One that saw the military sweep through the plains of Bara in Khyber tribal region, would have a far-reaching effect on security in Peshawar and beyond.

“Tirah is the last major redoubt of the various Pakistani militant groups,” a senior government official said. “You name them and they are there,” he said, also requesting he should not be named because he was not allowed to speak to the media on operational matters.

“From the newborn Daesh – the Pakistani branch of the so-called Islamic State, to Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, to Lashkar-i-Islam to Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan Jamaatul Ahrar, all of them are there, together with some of their foreign friends,” the official said.

“About two thousand and five hundred of them are fighting their last battle to retain the control of the valley,” the official said. “The area is heavily mined and then they were controlling dominating features.”

Thousands of Pakistani troops, including units from the elite Special Services Group, backed up by jets had mounted their last major offensive.

Security and government officials say they have cleared two-thirds of the valley, taking control in the process of some of the strategic mountains and passes, including Madatal Kandao that connects with Afghanistan and had been used by militants and narcotics smugglers to cross the border.

Hundreds of thousands of people had to leave the plains of Bara following Operation-One against the banned Lashkar-i-Islam, a militant group led by a local `commander’, Mangal Bagh. The area has since been cleared and in the first phase, repatriation of thousands of families has already begun.

Tirah straddles Tora Bora, the valley that served as the last sanctuary of Al Qaeda before its leadership escaped into Pakistan’s tribal region following the American invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

The Pakistan Army, that had stationed a small unit in the valley to help plug escape routes, pulled out immediately afterwards. “It was difficult to sustain our presence their due to logistic problems,” the security official said.

Security officials say that after initial resistance, militants were abandoning their positions and fleeing. The military says it has killed more than three hundred in the battle for Tirah so far. Security officials, however, say the figure could be much higher due to intense bombing by jets.

“There is a sense of demoralisation within the ranks and files,” said a security official, citing militant intercepts. “They are on the run.”

The TTP Jamaatul Ahrar commented on Wednesday that its two top leaders had tendered resignations, describing the development a routine matter.

Its spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan assured its fighters the resignations by the group’s intelligence chief Abdul Wali aka Omar Khalid Khurasani and emir, Maulana Qasim Khurasani, were not the result of any differences or sign of any weakness. “Under the rules of the Jamaatul Ahrar, its central leaders are changed after every six months,” he said in an email to media outlets.

Jamaatul Ahrar was formed in August last following differences between what was the TTP Mohmand led by Omar Khalid and the Fazlullah-led TTP.

The email from Ehsan said that Asad Afridi had been appointed as the interim emir of the group and that the central shura would announce a new leader in the next few days.

Pakistani officials say most of the top militant leadership is hiding in the neighbouring districts of Afghanistan. “We have been hearing that the Afghans would be launching complimentary operations on the other side,” the government official said. “We’ll see what the Afghans do once we push the militants out,” the official said.