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MP Calls On Faithful To Join Taliban In Afghanistan
Quetta, 30 May (AKI) - (by Syed Saleem Shahzad) - As brutal clashes continue between the US-led coalition forces and the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, across the border in neighbouring Pakistan, Maulana Noor Mohammed a respected Muslim scholar, leader of the hardline religious party, Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam and member of Pakistan's national assembly has called on Muslims in Pakistan to actively support the Taliban militants in their fight against the American forces. In an exclusive interview, Noor Mohammed told Adnkronos International (AKI) that there was enough of an historical basis for Pakistan to rally such support for the Taliban. The Taliban movement appears to be resurgent in southern Afghanistan, carrying out fierce attacks on US-led coalition forces as well as on Afghan National Army positions. Some analysts believe that the hardline movement is once again in a position to regain power in Afghanistan, as long as it can secure the same level of support it received from neighbouring Pakistan in the mid-1990s, when the students from Pakistani Islamic seminaries flooded into Afghanistan to reinforce the Taliban. The US-led campaign in Afghanistan, compelled many pro-Taliban forces in Pakistan to remain neutral and not express their support for a long time. However ever since the Taliban began its spring offensive, many of its former patrons have defied this and started a heated debate on whether or not Pakistan should support the Taliban movement in 2006, arguing that the Muslims of the sub-continent have a long history of supporting Muslim movements, especially in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Steve 2006-05-30 |
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