PESHAWAR: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur
Rehman said on Sunday that the revival of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal
(MMA) was a very positive development for the political scenario of the
region and good news for the masses.
Speaking at a
Tahaffuz Khatm-i-Nubuwat conference, he said that when the MMA — an
alliance of six religious parties — was formed in 2002 it had faced
hardship at national and international levels.
Islam had come under attack after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States, he added.
The
JUI-F chief said secular forces got an opportunity to rule the country
because of the absence of MMA in the previous two general elections held
in 2008 and 2013. “Enlightened” elements had tried to change Pakistani
culture only for their personal benefits, he added.
“We
will kick out secular forces from the province [Khyber Pakhtunkhwa],” he
said, adding that the JUI-F and other religious scholars would foil
conspiracies of America.
Maulana Fazl expressed concern
over a plan of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led provincial government to
pay monthly honoraria to prayer leaders in mosques, saying that “it
wants to buy the prayer leaders”.
He said a high-level
inquiry should be conducted into the 2014 terrorist attack on the Army
Public School in Peshawar. “No inquiry has so far been conducted into
this gruesome attack which shows indifferent attitude of the quarters
concerned.”
He said it was a very painful incident and
despite the lapse of three years, parents of the children massacred were
still restless.
The JUI-F chief said the issue of the
Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) was very simple, but some
‘opportunists’ had made it complicated. He was of the opinion that any
decision regarding the future of Fata should be taken in consultation
with tribal people.
The conference was also addressed by federal minister Mohammad Akram Khan Durrani and Gul Naseeb Khan.
