...Assembly of Islamic Clergy, or JUI, is a Pak Deobandi (Hanafi) political party. There are two main branches, one led by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, and one led by Maulana Samiul Haq. Fazl is active in Pak politix and Sami spends more time running his madrassah. Both branches sponsor branches of the Taliban, though with plausible deniability...
chief
Maulana Fazlur RehmanDeobandi holy man, known as
Mullah Dieselduring the war against the Soviets, his sympathies for the Taliban have never been tempered by honesty ...
has said that the federal government is indecisive about peace talks with Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain.
Speaking at a function here at the party's central secretariat on Saturday, he said that Taliban had expressed confidence in the tribal jirga and showed willingness to hold talks, but the government was using delaying tactics. Like Taliban the government should also trust the jirga to initiate dialogue without wasting time, he said.
"I don't know why the government is hesitant," he stated, adding that the JUI-F in collaboration with the tribal elders had started efforts for restoration of lasting peace in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
The JUI-F hosted all parties conference in Islamabad on February 28 and asked the country's politicianship to give full authority to 67-member jirga to hold dialogue with the TTP. Taliban had welcomed the joint declaration of the APC.
Mr Rehman said that the government should come out of confusion and authorise the jirga to start negotiations with Taliban. He said that the political parties gave full mandate to the jirga to carry out talks with Taliban, but the government's lukewarm response had disappointed them.
"I am confident that tribal jirga can play crucial role in restoration of peace in the region," he said.
The JUI-F chief condemned Saturday's kaboom inside a mosque in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
, which left four people dead and 29 others maimed. He said that the provincial government was silent over the worst lawlessness in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
. He claimed that the previous Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal government had adopted serious measures to control terrorism in the province.
He said that masses had expectation from his party and promised that it would not disappoint the nation if it came into power. He claimed that popularity graph of the party was going up.
On this occasion, former MNA from Kohistan
...a backwoods district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa distinguished by being even more rustic than is the norm among the local Pashtuns....
Maulana Mehboobullah Jan, former Senator Noor Sher Afridi and Zafarullah Afridi joined the JUI-F.