Govt accused of arresting seminary students in raids

PESHAWAR: The Jamiat Talba-e- Islam (JTI) (Ideological Group) on Monday voiced concern over crackdown against religious seminaries and urged the government to stop the action. Speaking at a news conference here, JTI president Abdul Hameed Khan Sherani said that government had launched crackdown against religious institutions.

JTI provincial president Naseer Khan Dawar, provincial deputy president Salman Khan and others were present on the occasion. Terming the raids unjustified, he said the students of the seminaries were arrested under the National Action Plan (NAP).

Sherani said that NAP was formulated to take action against extortionists, target killers and to root out terrorism. But he accused the government of using NAP against the religious seminaries.  The JTI leader said that kidnappers, extortionists, target killers, and other criminals were free while innocent seminary students were being harassed.