Tribal matters: We should withdraw from war on terror: Sirajul Haq

Says Musharraf’s ‘pro-US policy’ is to blame for militancy, terrorism in the last decade.

PESHAWAR: The deputy chief of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and former provincial minister Sirajul Haq said Pakistan should withdraw from the war on terror. 

“The US policy [in Afghanistan] resulted in all the terrorism and militancy in the last decade,” Haq said at the Peshawar Press Club on Thursday.

Haq said the statement of the Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani that Pakistan would continue to fight this war reflected a pro-US policy which was initiated by former president and army chief Pervez Musharraf. “This will create more problems for Pakistan in the future.”

Addressing the journalists, the party’s deputy chief said Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has failed to provide any relief to the public in their tenure. Haq also criticised the Awami National Party (ANP) for the deteriorating law and order of the province, adding that their all-parties conferences and talks of negotiations were meaningless.



Siraj claimed Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal’s government generated 83 megawatts (MW) of electricity from Malakand-3 during its term adding ANP’s government could not produce even a single megawatt during the last five years.

He accused Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Governor Shaukatullah Khan of rigging the elections by carrying out development projects in Bajaur Agency and urged the Election Commission of Pakistan to take notice.

Talking about JI’s manifesto, the deputy chief said they will turn Peshawar into Istanbul if elected. Among many promises, he added military operations in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas will be stopped and victims of drones and terrorism will be compensated. He also said the missing persons will be recovered on priority basis.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 3^rd, 2013.