March to Afghan border: NATO supplies haram, against sharia, says JI

Jamaat-e-Islami leader­s blame ANP government in K-P for law and order situation. Ask army to explain excesses.

PESHAWAR: “NATO supply is haram and against sharia, we will issue a fatwa (decree) against it,” said Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) K-P Chief Prof Ibrahim declared while addressing a protest rally with thousands of determined participants who agitated against re-opening of the NATO supply in Jamrud, sub-division of Khyber Agency on Tuesday.

Addressing the gathering at Bab-e-Khyber, the historic gate which has seen armies from Central Asia march into the Subcontinent and Nato tankers crossing over into Afghanistan for the past decade, he said that if the supply was not halted, they would march towards Islamabad. He lamented that NATO jets were bombing the tribal people, while the rulers were providing security to the Nato supply.

The rulers, the JI provincial head claimed, have forgotten the unprecedented sacrifices rendered by Pakistanis, adding “it is unacceptable to us.” He said that the JI would continue its protest until the supply was halted.

Lashing out at the government, central chief of JI Sirajul Haq said that the country’s integrity has been put at stake not only by the federal but also by the provincial government as well.

He added that corruption was rampant while the Awami National Party (ANP), which is the ruling party in K-P, was acting like a sub-branch of CIA. “The ANP is responsible for all the bomb blasts in the province,” he alleged. Siraj further blamed the ANP for the anarchy in the province, saying that the provincial government had given weapons to the people and formed peace committees.

Haq said that the government had deferred the Pak-Iran gas pipeline project, which would have supplemented the gas dwindling gas resources in the country to shore up electricity generation and industry, solely due to US pressure.

“We would impose Khilafat and are not afraid of any sacrifice in the way of its imposition,” he declared.

Syed Munawarul Hassan, the JI chief said that the party would struggle to unleash an Egypt-like revolution in Pakistan, adding that the JI is against the military operation anywhere in the country which forces Pakistani people to live like refugees in their own country.

“The government has snatched all the employment opportunities from the people of Swat and Buner in shape of conducting offensives,” he said.

He asked that the chief of the armed forces should tell the nation that if peace has been restored in FATA and Swat then why are security forces gunned down in various incidents. He also asked why the security officials were not letting journalists to report from these areas. “The people should know how many mothers, sisters and wives have lost their loved ones and how many people have been put in torture cells in these areas,“ he said, suggesting the armed forces have been indulging in activities beyond the purview of their duties, codes of conduct. He asked when the Bara operation against the militants would end.

Hassan appealed to the gathered participants to join hands with the JI to work for the rights of the people. “We want to change the mind, and attitude of the people if Nato and US become a hurdle, we will choose the path of peace,” he commented.

The JI chief said that US is an enemy of Pakistan and the Muslim word and, in the larger picture, an enemy of Islam.

He said, “US burns copies of the Holy Quran, makes caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Therefore, we feel that people should support the Jamaat-e-Islami in the upcoming elections and other related activities.”

Hassan said that the people’s support will help JI get elected in the coming elections and more than that, rousing a revolution. “We want a behavioural revolution – a revolution of priorities and thinking and won’t let US become a hurdle in the way of this revolution.”

A large number of JI activists participated in the protest bringing the business activities in the area to a standstill. They also blocked roads leading to Khyber Agency while several people fainted due to sunstroke.

Members of the crowd told AFP on Tuesday that Islamabad’s decision to reopen the border, despite the United States eventually apologising for the deaths, was “treason”.

“The rulers have sold their blood for US dollars but we will continue to oppose it,” said Mohammad Amin, a shopkeeper from the northwestern Swat valley, where the Pakistan Army in 2009 defeated a two-year Taliban insurgency.