Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal central leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Sunday that the recent Pak-Afghan peace jirga was meaningless without the Taliban's presence in it. "The Taliban are the real stakeholders, and not Pakistan and the Afghansitan government. No one can even think of peace in the region until the Taliban's importance is accepted", he said while addressing an annual Dastar Bandi in Darvesh Masjid. Heroin and Kalashnikov culture were the byproducts of the Afghan war, he said, adding that the Taliban regime eliminated these menaces from Afghanistan and brought real peace and stability.
Replying a question, he said the Wafaqul Madaris was being weakened and madrassas were slowly abolished under a conspiracy.
Fazl said if the democratic process in the country was wrapped up religious parties would be the ultimate losers. He said the MMA-led government in the NWFP had made progress toward achieving its objectives. He regretted that Pakistan had become isolated in the comity of nations due to its ill-conceived foreign policy. It is no more on friendly terms with neighboring countries, including Afghanistan, India and China, he observed. "The US was present in Afghanistan to serve its own interests. America and other imperialist powers are equating jihad with terrorism. They are maligning Islam and provoking Muslims to raise arms so that they could be crushed in the US war on terror," he said. "We will have to show sagacity in the prevailing situation."
He said that he believed in politics of wisdom rather than weapons and that the incidents like Lal Masjid and the May 12 violence in Karachi could not be forgotten.