The MMA leader has accused pakistani government and military for support taliban.
Pakistan: Opposition Leader Accusses Military Of Sponsering Terror
Syed Saleem Shahzad / adnkronosinternational (AKI), Italy
Karachi, 8 August (AKI) - In Pakistan, the mosques and the military have been natural allies for the past 50 years. However, terrorists attacks like that in the United States on 11 September 2001 and the recent bombings in London on 7 July have forced the Pakistani military to distance itself from the religious institutions. In the wake of the country-wide crackdown and restrictions that have been placed on Pakistan’s religious schools or madrassas, both the armed forces and the mosques are working to expose each other’s covert activities.
The leader of the opposition of Pakistan’s national assembly and the head of the of six-party religious alliance, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), Maulana Fazlur Rehman was deported from Dubai on 1 August.
Sources tell Adnkronos International (AKI) that the decision taken by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to deport Rehman was based on information provided by Pakistan that Maulana Fazlur Rehman visited the UAE to collect funds from his followers there.
According to the sources, the same money is then used in anti-government activities and also goes to the Taliban movement. Based on that information the UAE government blacklisted Maulana Fazlur Rehman and did not allow him to enter in Dubai.
However, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, speaking to the media on Sunday, rejected the accusations, and implicated the Pakistani military in support activities for insugent movements in neighbouring Afghanistan and Indian-administered Kashmir.
“They are hypocrites. They blame the madrassas for militancy but in fact [the] Pakistan army is the one which is involved in militancy,” said Rehman.
Rehman said that there is a route from Waziristan in Pakistan’s tribal regions on the border with Afghanistan, to Kali Sarak in neighboring Afghanistan where he maintained that Pakistan launches Taliban fighters to take on US troops and also provide them a safe passage. He also mentioned a training camp in the northern town of Manshera, some 140 miles from Peshawar where militants are given extensive training by the Pakistani army to fight against Indian troops in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Government trying to hoodwink US: Fazl
Daily Times (Pakistan) / August 9, 2005
*** MMA leader says govt helping militants enter Afghanistan
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Points to men being moved from Waziristan to militant camps in Mansehra
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Warns of protests over madrassa raids**
LAHORE: The Pakistani government is deceiving the US and the West by helping militants freely enter Afghanistan from Waziristan, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) Secretary General Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Sunday.
He told a press conference that the government should give the identity of the infiltrators and its (government’s) motives for helping them enter Afghanistan.
“They must also give the nation the identities of the men being moved from Waziristan to militant camps in Mansehra. This is hypocrisy. The rulers are not only trying to deceive the US and the West, but also hoodwinking the entire nation,” he added.
Earlier, Fazl had said that if pressured he would reveal facts that would open a Pandora’s box.
“We ask the rulers to reveal the identity of the people being transported to Afghanistan from Waziristan via Kaali Sarak in private vehicles, reveal who is supervising their trouble-free entry into Afghanistan and reasons for their infiltration,” he said.
The government would have to decide whether it wanted to support jihadis or close down their camps, he said, adding, “We will have to openly tell the world whether we want to support jihadis or crack down on them. We can’t afford to be hypocritical anymore,” he said. Fazl also accused Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed of running a jihadi camp for Kashmiri fighters near Islamabad. He said the government was accusing clerics of promoting religious extremism and militancy although they (clerics) were playing an active role in restoring peace in the tribal areas.
Fazl, who is also the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, warned of nationwide protests over the government’s crackdown against religious seminaries and a decision to expel their foreign students. He said action against madrassas was against human rights and that the MMA would protest against it in the entire country. He did not specify when the protests would start. Fazl’s comments came two days after Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said a decision by President Pervez Musharraf to expel foreigners studying at madrassas was irrevocable.
Musharraf took the decision last month amid concern that Pakistan had not done enough to curb Islamic extremism in madrassas. The move also came after investigators said two suspects in the deadly July 7 bombings in London might have been to madrassas in Pakistan.
Fazl said the government had taken the decision under international pressure. “The entire world knows that this action is being taken after pressure by foreign countries,” he added. Interior Ministry officials said over the weekend that visas of all foreign Islamic students would be cancelled, but it was not yet clear when the first students would leave the country.
Fazl also criticised the Lahore High Court for barring people with degrees from seminaries from contesting the local council elections.
Fazl said the Election Commission of Pakistan had told him that there was no such ban on candidates with madrassa degrees. Fazl also commented on the Supreme Court’s decision on the Hasba Bill, saying that under Article 186(2) of the 1973 Constitution the president was bound to only seek the court’s decision on legislation, but it was unclear whether the Supreme Court’s decision was an opinion or a judgement. He said the issue would be clearer after the Supreme Court issued the detailed order. He also said the MMA would fight a legal battle against the government over the Hasba Bill.
