Teething challenges: Imran tars judges, generals, politicians with same brush

Blames them as well as the ulema for the country’s ills

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Wednesday blamed generals, judges, politicians and religious scholars for the difficulties the country is currently facing.

“Generals, judges, politicians and ulema, all of them are responsible for the deplorable state of affairs Pakistan faces today,” he said at a convention of religious scholars arranged by his party in Islamabad.

Elaborating on PTI’s slogan of tabdeeli (change), Imran told scholars that the party envisioned Pakistan as a welfare state where special attention would be paid to providing education and justice to everyone.



Pointing out that more than 110 million people in the country were living below the poverty line, he asked how many had raised their voice against this ‘unjust’ system.

“Had they [generals, judges, politicians and religious scholars] taken a stand on this issue, we would not be facing this situation today,” he said.

Religious scholars at the convention had earlier asked Imran to explain his party’s idea of change.

“What is the philosophy behind PTI’s slogan of tabdeeli? Do you want change in line with the West or as envisaged by Quaid-e-Azam?” Allama Zahid Rashidi asked the PTI chief at the convention. He warned that they “will resist tooth and nail if PTI’s idea of change espouses Western ideology.” Rashidi added that they were sick of the word ‘change’ as, despite claims, nothing had changed in the country in over 50 years. He also implicitly demanded replacing the existing economic system in the country with one based on Islamic principles.

Imran said that the purpose behind PTI’s efforts to engage religious scholars was to “dispel the impression being spread by the West that Islam and terrorism are synonymous.”

“We want to unite the country by putting aside sectarian differences. Now is the time for unity and I am sure the majority wants that,” he said.

Talking about the controversial Charlie Hebdo caricatures, the PTI chief said the leaders of Muslim countries were also responsible for what happened in France. “They [Muslim leaders] should inform the world of our sensitivities and warn they will end trade in protest,” he said.

Imran did not pass the opportunity to censure his political rival Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman as well, saying there were people who used religion for politics. “I have seen them selling their conscience.”

Talking about religious seminaries, the PTI chief urged religious scholars to introduce reforms and spend necessary resources to make the 2.4 million who study there a part of society.

His suggestion attracted criticism from the scholars, however. “Everyone knows which madrassas receive foreign funding and are involved in terrorism, but no one is willing to name them in public,” said Syed Habib Irfani. “The state should use all its powers to deal with them,” said Allama Amin Shaheedi. Two resolutions were passed at the end of the convention, one of which called for refraining from linking all seminaries with terrorism.

“All madrassas should not be linked with terrorism and the government should provide evidence if they suspect some are involved in terror activities. If the government wants madrassas to introduce a new syllabus, it should provide resources for that as well,” it said.

The second resolution called on the government to “summon the French ambassador to the Foreign Office to lodge a protest against blasphemous caricatures.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 29^th, 2015.