Clearing the air: Martyrdom of soldiers undisputed, says Baloch

JI says ISPR statement was in violation of Constitution.

LAHORE:

The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) upped the ante in its war of words with the military’s media arm on Tuesday, terming the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement a ‘violation’ of the Constitution.

Addressing a press conference at Mansoora, the party’s secretary general Liaquat Baloch said that since a political [civilian] government was in place “the armed forces had no right to serve a notice to the head of a political party”.

The ISPR statement had censured JI chief Munawar Hassan over who could and could not be called a martyr and demanded an ‘unconditional apology’ from him.

The JI secretary general stoutly defended Hassan, insisting that as the head of a politico-religious party he had a right to air his criticism. The nation, according to him, is aware of their party’s views about the armed forces and their institutions expressed from time to time.

He added that there were no two opinions with regard to the martyrdom of military personnel.

“Plunging into the US war had been a blunder on our part due to which the country has had to face incalculable losses,” Baloch pointed out.

Appealing for a full review of its policies, the JI leader said that rulers had chosen a wrong path, which had led to dreadful results for the nation.

He said the nation stood united against the drone strikes but the ‘US stooges’ were trying to provide a legal cover to these attacks.

Separately, Jamaat-e-Islami spokesman Dr Farid Ahmed Piracha, has rejected media reports that the high level meeting on Monday had dubbed Hasan’s statement as his personal opinion. He also said that the news making rounds in the media about Hassan’s resignation were also false.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th, 2013.