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| India-Pakistan |
| CII's stand on militancy |
| 2011-10-06 |
| [Dawn] FOUR days after the All-Party Conference in Islamabad passed its 'consensus resolution', the head of the Council of Islamic Ideology declared on Monday that the beturbanned goons were well-wishers of neither Islam nor Pakistain, and emphasised that violence was no solution to problems. Addressing a presser in Quetta in the presence of Learned Elders of Islam from different sects, Maulana Mohammad Khan Sherani appealed to all religious and political parties to unite to face the internal and external forces threatening Pakistain. Coming from the chief of the constitutional body, the rejection of religious militancy is in line with several fatwas given in the past by individual Learned Elders of Islam and larger multi-sect conferences in Pakistain and elsewhere in South Asia against suicide kabooms and acts of terror targeting innocent people. Even though the Learned Elders of Islam's reaction to acts of terror has often been tardy and restrained, some brave individuals, like Mufti Naeemi of Lahore, have paid with their lives for being outspoken in their denunciation of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistain's murderous acts. Maulana Sherani's opinion bordering on a fatwa should be taken note of by the government, which, following some vexatious developments, has renewed its commitment to seeking a negotiated settlement to the Taliban insurgency. While no one in their sane mind would quarrel with this idea in principle, the CII chief's declaration arms the PPP-led government with a moral locus standi with which to negotiate with those who, according to him, are not well-wishers of Islam and Pakistain. The TTP and other religious myrmidon groups have declared war on Pakistain and continue to kill Pak soldiers, men, women and kiddies. If the negotiations are to be held, or are perhaps already under way, the public ought to know where we are headed and what exactly is the price the nation will have to pay if the government is to negotiate and compromise with the beturbanned goons. More regretfully, in spite of the olive branch proffered by the APC, the beturbanned goons have not conveyed a categorical acceptance of the peace call. In fact, the initial reaction from the TTP has been lukewarm and conditional. |
| Posted by:Fred |