Talks, not war: Peace efforts must be persisted with, says Siraj

‘Forces that want to derail attempts to ensure peace must be named’.

LAHORE:

Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq on Sunday said that efforts for peace should continue in order to rid the country of terrorism.

Speaking at a reception, he condemned Sunday’s bombing of a mosque in Peshawar and asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to name the forces which he said wanted to derail the peace process.

Haq said several political parties had been fooling the people through mere slogans and false promises and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan Peoples Party had never held each other accountable. “We will soon hold them to account.” He said the country was mired in numerous problems, including poverty, inflation and unemployment.

“Most parents cannot afford to send their children to schools,” he said.

The JI leader said that during his term as a senior minister in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa he had ensured that no children was forced to quit education on account of their parents’ inability to pay school fees.

“Our children have immense talent… we need to nurture them,” he said.

Haq urged non-Muslims not to call themselves minorities. “They are as much Pakistanis as we are,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2014.