JUI-F leader wants Sharia law implemented in merged districts

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) senior leader Mufti Kifayatullah has demanded the enforcement of Sharia law in the merged districts and directed his followers to refer to Taliban killed in their fight against the military as "shaheed".

While addressing a gathering of religious figures and the public at Madrassa Jamia Tehsil Quran in Tehsil Shakai, Kifayatullah said the Taliban or militants would lay down their arms and become a militia of the state if Sharia law was enforced in the merged districts.

"Taliban have made huge sacrifices for Islam and Islamic values. If the government could tolerate the FCR in the merged districts for seven decades, why can it not amend the Constitution and announce Sharia law in these districts?" Kifayatullah added.

He assured the government that they would compel the Taliban not to press for the enforcement of Sharia across the country - in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, Punjab, Sindh or Balochistan - as they knew the establishment would not tolerate such a demand.

"We want no more bloodshed, not a single shot fired, and we demand our generals announce Sharia in the merged districts," Kifayatullah said.

"The Pakistani security forces are Muslim, and we have no quarrel with them. But we are dissatisfied with the generals' policies that have brought unrest to the country," he added.