Mufti Kifayat claims he never made provocative speech

MANSEHRA: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader and former member provincial assembly Maulana Mufti Kifayatullah on Thursday said he was arrested for questioning the dump of illegal weapons in Chiniot in Punjab.
Speaking at a public gathering after his release from the Chiniot Prison in the Punjab, he said that he had not delivered any hate speech. “I just demanded an action against the dumping of weapons by a group,” he added.
He said he had just asked the Punjab government to investigate the matter, collect information about the nature of the weapons and take action against the elements involved in transporting a huge cache of weapons to the area. “I said that there was a need to carry out an operation in the area on the pattern of Nine Zero operation,” he said in a reference to the Rangers raid on the headquarters of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in Karachi.
He said the other reason of his arrest might be issuing a warning against raids on Madaris. He said he had asked the law-enforcers to refrain from taking action against seminaries.
Lashing out at the Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, he alleged that the chief minister was involved in extra-judicial killings.
Recalling his party’s support for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government, he said the JUI-F supported the government against the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) sit-in in Islamabad. “The PML-N retuned our favour by arresting the JUI-F leaders and workers,” he lamented. It may be mentioned here that a team of the Counter-Terrorism Department had arrested Mufti Kifayatullah for allegedly making a provocative speech.