Let’s not call Taliban Muslims: Wajid

LONDON: Pakistan’s High Commissioner to the UK Wajid Shamsul Hasan came up with the stringent attack on Taliban militants and described them as pagans and enemies of Islam and Pakistan.

Addressing a gathering of Pakistani origin local government councillors to discuss the threat of Taliban to Pakistan at a function hosted by Lord Nazir Ahmed of Rotherham, Hasan recognized that Pakistan was passing through a very difficult phase and was facing huge internal and external challenges and appealed to Pakistanis to rise to the occasion and put up a united fight.

Appreciating the initiative of Lord Ahmed which has won the unanimous backing of nearly 300 Pakistani origin elected councillors for an enlightened Muslim Pakistani state and to support Pakistan at all forums, Hasan said by coming together Pakistanis can dispel many of the misconceptions cliched with their country in the world.

“We must also emphasize that we don’t need Taliban. These Taliban are more or less pagans. They have been slaughtering Muslims most ferociously which is not allowed in Islam. We must distinguish between Islam and Taliban. We should not call them Muslims; they donít deserve to be called Muslims for their crimes against Islam and Pakistani citizens.”

The envoy asked Pakistanis to question how many innocent people have been martyred by the Taliban to advance their agenda of taking over Pakistan.

The Pakistan Army, Hasan said, has got to fight Taliban because it is their constitutional responsibility to regain each and every peace of sovereign territory. “It’s army’s constitutional responsibility and they must eliminate the enemy. We should all join forces to remove this threat from the soil of Pakistan.”

Lord Ahmed assured Pakistan that nearly one million British Pakistani diaspora was always ready to help their country of origin and it was the moral responsibility of overseas Pakistanis to help Pakistan. He announced to take his initiative to other cities with significant Pakistani presence to seek support for Pakistanís fight against terrorism.

British Pakistani elected councillors, who had also travelled from outside of London, expressed their grave concern at the unravelling security situation in Pakistan and called for a UN inquiry into how Taliban were able to get the sophisticated weapons and heavy duty vehicles to fight the Pakistan Army and turn the tourist destination into a no-go area. They called for the exposure of foreign hands funding Taliban militants.

The meeting passed a unanimous resolution calling on militant cleric Maulana Sufi Mohammad, Maulana Fazlullah, Haji Muslim and other leaders of the Tehrik-e-Taliban to lay down their arms and cooperate with the state authorities to provide good governance, justice and development in the region.

While recognizing the suffering of the civilians in Fata and Malakand Division, the resolution strongly condemned the attack by terrorists on police, Pakistani Army and women and girls in schools. The resolution called upon the NGOs to help rebuild villages that have been destroyed in the drone attacks and by the Taliban.

The resolution called on the British government to exercise influence on the American government to stop drone attacks on Pakistan and the tribal leaders in the Fata region to drive out foreign fighters who are using Pakistani soil to launch attacks inside Afghanistan.