War, terrorism need of West: Fazl

LAHORE: Chief of his own faction of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) Moulana Fazl-ur-Rehman on Thursday war and terrorism are in fact the need of the Western world and not of Pakistan.

Addressing a seminar here, Moulana Fazl said the Western countries resort to taking ‘extremist steps’ but get offended when a reaction comes from the Muslims who are then dubbed as ‘extremists’.

He condemned the publishing of sacrilegious caricatures, saying that such shameful acts are aimed at dividing the world.

The Maulana said the West accuses the religious people of taking up arms but actually it is the West itself which had supplied weapons to them.

“All religious schools of thought are on one page that no one should engage in politics by wielding weapons,” he said.

He warned that non-implementation on the provisions of the Constitution would trigger chaos in the country.

He said the former president Pervez Musharraf had told him ‘Moulana, it is a reality that we are slaves of America’ and in response said he accepted that we are their slaves.

The JUI-F chief said his party did not endorse 21st constitutional amendment, adding that he was discussing the amendment with Ishaq Dar and Eijaz-ul-Haq when the bill was passed in the house.

He cautioned the government not to force the JUI-F to take 'tough decisions', saying they would shut down the seminaries and fill the jails, if the party's point of view is not accepted.