Religious leader warns govt over Davis issue

LONDON: The chairman of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), Sahibzada Fazal Karim, has threatened countrywide movement if the Government of Pakistan attempted to bypass the courts or helped the US killer Raymond Davis, currently in custody in Lahore for killing four Pakistani nationals.
Addressing a press conference in London at the Islamic Centre Brent, Karim cautioned that the government should learn a lesson from the situation in the Middle East where the masses have risen against the injustices of their rulers.
He announced that the Sunni Ittehad Council will not become part of any alliance -- such as the now defunct Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) -- and will maintain its independent identity. He regretted that some religious parties had played second fiddle to dictators Zia-ul-Haq and Pervez Musharraf and were the lackeys of the unconstitutional rulers but the SIC will not become part of any such plan to gain political mileage. He said scores of Sunnis had been killed for opposing the suicide bombings and demanded of the government to shut down such centres, which promote terrorism in the name of religion.
“Internally, there are terrorist training centres operating in the western Punjab with impunity. The Sufi shrines are under attack from terrorists while terrorism and Talibanisation is on the rise.”
“Externally, Pakistan is under attack from the US-launched drones,” he said expressing non-confidence in both the government and opposition. He praised the former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi for taking a principled stand over the issue of Raymond Davis.
Qazi Abdul Aziz Chisthi said it was a great achievement of the SIC that it succeeded in extracting a statement from PM Gilani in the National Assembly that no change will be made in the blasphemy law.