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| Taliban nearing Islamabad, warns Fazl |
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Thursday, April 23, 2009
By Muhammad Anis
ISLAMABAD: JUI chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Wednesday made the startling disclosure on the floor of the National Assembly that the Taliban had reached near Mansehra and might soon reach Tarbela Dam.
“If the Taliban continue to move at this pace, they will soon be knocking at the doors of Islamabad as the Margala Hills seem to be the only hurdle in their march towards the federal capital,” warned the JUI-F chief while taking part in the debate on the presidential address to parliament.
The Maulana said the Taliban had reached the Kala Dhaka area (near Mansehra) and the main Mansehra city was not far. “After occupying Buner, they have reached Kala Dhaka and may also be taking over the water reservoir of the Tarbela Dam.”
The MNAs in their speeches focused on the situation in Swat, asking the government and the political leadership not to take the situation lightly. The PML-Nawaz demanded that the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation be revisited if the Taliban failed to fulfil their commitment of establishing peace.
Khawaja Muhammad Asif of the PML-N said parliament supported the implementation of the Nizam-e-Adl in Swat but if the Taliban did not fulfil their commitment, then the policy should be reviewed. “If furious and objectionable statements from the Taliban continue to come, then we should review our stand on this Nizam,” he said.
The PML-N parliamentarian said there was an urgent need to control the menace of Talibanisation. “These Taliban are creating chaos in the name of Islam,” he said. Aftab Sherpao also took part in the debate and said the situation in the province was very grim as in just one year 732 people had died in 692 attacks, which did not include the drone attacks.
Maulana Fazl said all other issues were minor and serious thought should be given to meeting the challenge emerging from Swat and the tribal areas. He wondered how the government could silence the world when it signed the peace deal with the head of a banned organisation. He said there were many shortcomings in the Nizam-e-Adl, which needed to be removed. “The peace deals are signed but every time the militants are not disarmed,” he said.
The Maulana said the situation in the province was very grim but President Asif Zardari did not say a word about it in his address to parliament. “We do not want the law of any one sect but the law of the Holy Quran and Sunnah,” he said.
He said the government had not also been able to stop the drone attacks and failed to remove doubts in the minds of the people that drones flew from inside Pakistan. “People do not accept the government’s position that drones fly from outside the country,” he said.
Referring to the MQM’s comments against him, Fazl said the slogan of the ‘Talabanisation of Karachi’ was being raised under a conspiracy to invite America to come to Pakistan through sea. “Those raising this slogan are trying to create another Osama for America in this part of the world,” he said.
The Maulana said the joint resolution passed by parliament on national security should be implemented effectively and Pakistan should abandon the so-called war against terror, which America had imposed on it to serve its interests.
He condemned the burning of churches in Karachi and attacks on the Christian community, saying Islam taught protection of rights of minorities. Khawaja Muhammad Asif of the PML-N feared the destruction had reached the point where there was no hope for peace in Swat, saying the rulers were reluctant to face the facts. He wondered why security forces were not ready to resist the Taliban.
“Our support for the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation should not be considered our weakness as we did it for the sake of peace,” he said. Responding to the accusations of PML-Q parliamentary leader Faisal Saleh Hayat, Khawaja Asif said his (Faisal’s) remarks against Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and his brother, ex-defence secretary Lt-General (retd) Iftikhar Ali Khan, were not based on facts. “Iftikhar Ali Khan was appointed defence secretary in 1997 and not in 1993 as stated by Faisal Saleh Hayat,” he said.
He asked the PML-Q leaders to apologise to the nation for electing Pervez Musharraf as president in uniform.
Aftab Sherpao said everybody supported the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation in Swat but contradictory statements were coming from ANP leader Afrasiab Khattak and Maulana Sufi Muhammad. They should hold a joint press conference to clarify the situation.
He complained that his province had been ignored in the development process while foreign assistance was sought in the name of war on terror in the tribal areas. He regretted the statement of Pakhtoonkhawa governor in which he asked the people to take arms against the Taliban. “Does he want civil war in the province?” he asked.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
