Siraj asks US to accept Taliban offer

LAHORE Jamaat-e-Islami ameer Senator Sirajul Haq said Taliban’s demand in an open letter to the US Congress and US people for the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and resolving Afghan issue through dialogue was the right step, adding that Washington should behave reasonably and accept the offer.

In human history, the decisions of the wars were made at the dialogue table, he said while addressing the JI central workshop at Mansoora on Friday. Sirajul Haq said US had been fighting against the mountains of Afghanistan for the last 17 years without any success. In fact, he said, the US decision to attack Afghanistan with Nato force was a big blunder than that made by Soviet Union. This was an attack on the sovereignty and independence of a Muslim country and the Afghans fought for their freedom with great valour and courage. He said hundreds of thousands of Afghans had been martyred in the war but the Afghans had not accepted defeat. He said that even if the US continued this war for hundred years, it won't be able to defeat the Afghans.

He strongly condemned the inclusion of Pakistan in the US watch list under Indian pressure. He said that India had been carrying on worst form of terrorism in Held Kashmir for the last 70 years but Pakistan had failed to highlight this fact at the world level. On the other hand, he said, Pakistan army had done commendable job in fighting terrorism which had been acknowledged by the world. He said the clash of institutions could endanger the democratic system in the country. He said that if the state institutions were not allowed to function independently and if they took to confrontation with one another instead of cooperation, the whole system could collapse.

He demanded the institutions to remain within their limits and work hand in hand with one another, saying the present state of confrontation was a serious threat to democracy. Sirajul Haq also warned that if horse trading in the Senate elections was not stopped, the Upper House would turn into a Sunday Bazaar and those returning to the Senate would be least interested in legislation or other national issues but would all the time be busy in money making and building their personal assets. He demanded the election commission to take immediate notice of the activities going on in this regard and stop all unlawful practices to restore the people’s confidence in the elections.