Whereas the Foreign Office is still to give an adequate response on Trump’s allegations
FAISALABAD: Lately, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Samiul Haq (JUI-S) head Maulana Samiul Haq, while speaking at a press conference, issued a rebuttal to US President Donald Trump’s remarks against Pakistan on its role in playing home to militant forces. Samiul Haq, who also heads the Islamic Defence Council of Pakistan, stated in a rather astute manner that the Pakistan Army won’t take action against the Haqqani Network. It is intriguing to see a religious-political leader imply a narrative that directly contradicts the one the government and the ruling parties have been chanting lately, of taking unbiased action against all the militant forces that create instability in the region.
Whereas the Foreign Office is still to give an adequate response on Trump’s allegations, a religious party giving a statement on the army’s course of action supports the rhetoric of religious political forces in Pakistan always having an upper hand over the establishment and the government in the country.
Factually, successive Pakistani governments have always allied with the US as a staunch ally in the war against terrorism. Contrary to that, is the narrative that the JUI-S head propagated in his press conference implying that as a nation all are engaged to defeat the US in Afghanistan, one way or the other.
Regardless of the political say the said party has in influencing and shaping up the policy discourse for political matters, Haq’s address certainly points out at a rift between the religious political forces and the establishment in Pakistan.
Ahmar Ali
Published in The Express Tribune, August 25th, 2017.
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