Some madaris misguiding our children, says Zardari

 Asks Sindh govt to expel Afghan nationals from province 

KARACHI: Former president Asif Ali Zardari has directed the Sindh government to expel Afghan nationals from Sindh. He said some madaris were diverting attention of our children from the right path. Zardari said that he was not against the madaris that were providing religious education but was against the madaris that were promoting terrorism in the country and facilitating the terrorists to kill our own people in our own land.

The former president gave these directives to the Sindh chief minister on Monday while presiding over a meeting to review the security affairs of the province in the aftermath of the Sehwan tragedy at the Chief Minister House.

“Our forefathers had established a madressa (referring to the Sindh Madressatul Islam), where founder of the nation Mohammad Ali Jinnah received education. This is the kind of madressa we want to promote,” he said.

The former president asked Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to take the issues of Afghan nationals living n Sindh to the federal government and get them out of the province and this country. “We have suffered a lot at their hands,” he said. The former president said that there were some areas in the province like the border with Balochistan and Punjab where strict checking mechanism should be ensured. “The pockets in districts or areas where facilitators of the terrorists live should also be crushed with iron hands,” he directed.

The chief minister said that Sindh was the land of Sufis and peaceful people. “I am proud to say that not even a single suicide bomber, involved in terrorist activities, was from Sindh but instead they were imported from other areas,” he said. “Yes, their facilitators have emerged in some districts (of the province) where our government has decided to launch an operation.”

The chief minister said that he had worked out a detailed plan under which he would request the federal government to conduct an operation in Balochistan, particularly in the areas of Wadh, Mastung, Jhal Magsi and Khuzdar. “This is important and has been worked out in the light of the reports of intelligence agencies,” he said.

Murad told the former president that he had sent a list of 94 madaris to the federal government for keeping a check on their activities, but instead of taking action, the federal government’s response was not positive.

During the meeting, Zardari was informed that the Sindh police had been able to identify the person who detonated himself to carry out the bomb blast at the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar.

Inspector General of Sindh Police AD Khawaja made this disclosure at the meeting as other details regarding the identity of the suicide bomber, who carried out the terrorist activity, were not disclosed to the media. It was also informed on the occasion that the alleged facilitators of the perpetrator of terrorist strike at Sehwan Sharif had also been arrested from the province.

However, it could be understood from a statement attributed (by the spokesperson of the Sindh chief minister) to the Sindh chief minister that the suicide bomber in the Sehwan tragedy was not a native of Sindh.

Meanwhile, Syed Murad Ali Shah on the advice of the former president Asif Ali Zardari decided to pay Rs10 million compensation to the family of the head constable killed in the Sehwan tragedy.