Fazl says Bajaur explosion not related to elections

PESHAWAR: Central chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUIF) and PDM President Maulana Fazlur Rahman said on Tuesday that those shedding the blood of innocent people in the name of Islam should feel ashamed.

“Those who attacked have claimed responsibility. Let me tell them that JUIF is the biggest forum of rightful Ulema in the country. Religious leaders and students have declared this attitude and armed struggle as un-Islamic. No one has the right to shed the blood of others,” he said while talking to the media, after his visit to the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) to inquire after the health of the victims of Bajaur tragedy. The explosion in Bajaur had occurred on Sunday.

Fazl said he also visited the CMH where too the victims of the tragedy are admitted for treatment. At the CMH, he was also accompanied by Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Haji Ghulam Ali.

Federal Minister Asad Mahmud also visited the hospital to inquire after the health of those injured in the incident.

Maulana Fazl said that the Bajaur incident was a national tragedy and it was not a matter of political point-scoring. No one should settle his score under the garb of the tragedy, he said.

Fazl urged his party workers to stay calm. “We are political people and we will continue our peaceful political struggle. We will not respond to the terrorists with terrorism. We would eradicate them through tolerance and peaceful struggle,” he said. He said the JUIF believes in peaceful political struggle. They have faced similar incidents in the past and would continue to do so. He thanked the people for expressing sympathies with the victims and the party in testing times. He said that governments and people from abroad, including the UNO, have expressed concern over the incident for which he was thankful to them.

Maulana Fazlur Rahman said that he had come to encourage the victims of the incident. But the injured workers were trying to console him instead. “The party workers and victims of the incident are in high spirits. I salute their spirit.”

He said that the Bajaur tragedy was a black incident. But it was a matter of satisfaction that the party workers and families of the affected people faced the situation bravely and with patience, he said. He claimed that nearly 60 people were martyred in the incident and above 100 sustained injuries. He offered prayers for those who were martyred in the incident and quick recovery of the injured.

To a question about possible delay in the election after the tragedy, Fazl said the incident had nothing to do with elections. The government would quit power well on time and the rest would be the job of caretakers. He said that they would try to have elections in the country on time.