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| India-Pakistan |
| Opposition leaders say govt mishandled Lal Masjid issue |
| 2007-07-04 |
| Opposition leaders have condemned the government for mishandling the Lal Masjid issue. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf Chairman Imran Khan said the Lal Masjid issue had been mishandled by the government. He said the issue could have been resolved through dialogue, but the “dictator-led” regime wanted to tarnish Pakistan’s image in the world and took wrong steps. PPP Punjab President Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the government had aggravated the situation by delaying an operation against the Lal Masjid administration. He said it was the government’s responsibility to protect the lives and property of the people but he failed to understand whether the action was started by the government or the Lal Masjid administration. PPP Lahore President Haji Azizur Rehman Chan said the Lal Masjid issue could have been resolved through dialogue. PPP Lahore Information Secretary Zakria Butt criticised the government for starting an operation against Lal Masjid. PML-N Punjab President Sardar Zulfiqar Khosa said the people would resist the government if it tried to impose emergency in the country on the basis of the Lal Masjid incident. Jamaat-e-Islami Naib Ameer Senator Prof Khurshid Ahmad said that all religious parties had rejected the tactics of the Lal Masjid administration, but the issue should have been resolved through dialogue. He appealed to the government and the Lal Masjid administration to resolve the matter peacefully. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq told Daily Times that operation against Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa was the continuation of President General Pervez Musharraf’s ‘tyrannical polices’ pursued in FATA and Balochistan. He said that the Lal Masjid issue had been mishandled. He said the government should give dialogue a chance instead of use of force. Jamaat-e-Islami leader Liaquat Baloch denounced the government for Lal Masjid operation. He said peaceful means and not shooting at Jamia Hafsa and Jamia Fareedia students would resolve the Lal Masjid crisis. He urged people to react to the government’s ‘inhuman action against religious forces’. He warned religious forces would offer strong resistance if the government cracked down on any mosque and madrassa in future. However, Benazir Bhutto led Pakistan People’s Party spokesperson Farhatullah Babar said he would not comment on the Lal Masjid crisis. “We are not even safe in the federal capital,” said PML-F MNA Syed Jawed Shah. “It conveys a bad message to the international community. China was our fast friend and then its citizens were kidnapped from the capital.” The politicians were unanimous in their opinion that the problem should not have been allowed to reach this point. “I condemn the show of arms and their use by the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa administration,” said acting PML-N Sindh President Saleem Zia. “The government’s approach has not been serious.” “No one can possibly support what has happened in Islamabad,” said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf spokesman Sikandar Hayat Mughal. “This is a failure of the government institutions.” |
| Posted by:Fred |