JI issues ‘edict’ against NATO supplies

Professor Ibrahim says reopening of Nato transit routes is against shariah. PHOTO: AFP

“The reopening of the Nato supply lines is against the shariah,” Prof Ibrahim, the chief of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chapter of Jamaat-e-Islami, told a rally at Bab-e-Khyber in Jamrud, Khyber Agency.

Prof Ibrahim threatened that if the government did not withdraw its decision, JI supporters would march on Islamabad.

“It [reopening of Nato supply lines] is not acceptable to us. The rulers have forgotten the unprecedented sacrifices rendered by the Pakistani nation,” he added.

JI’s senior leader Sirajul Haq criticised the federal and provincial governments for ‘risking the country’s integrity’. He blamed the ruling Awami National Party for surging violence in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. “The ANP is acting like a sub-branch of CIA,” he added.

“We will revive the Islamic caliphate and will give every sacrifice for this purpose,” he said. JI chief Syed Munawar Hassan told supporters that his party would bring about an Egypt-like revolution in Pakistan. He was referring to the recent election victory of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Hassan questioned the ‘media blackout’ in the tribal regions and Swat where “journalists are not allowed to report freely on counter-insurgency operations”.

“Pakistani people have the right to know how many mothers, sisters and wives have lost their loved-ones,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2012.