Army chief has buried rumours: Fazl

MULTAN: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Ameer Fazlur Rahman said on Wednesday that Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif had buried conspiracies by announcing that he would not accept an extension in service and would retire on the due date.

He said that it was shocking that extortion was at its peak in Peshawar and other areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.He claimed that intelligence information on the Bacha Khan University terrorism incident had been disclosed in mid-December last with the names and complete whereabouts of the attackers, but the agencies concerned could not prevent the attack.

Talking to journalists at Madrassa Qasimul Aloom on Wednesday, he said that politicians were criticised but it was the establishment that took all the decisions. Fazl demanded a judicial inquiry into the terrorism incidents at the Peshawar Army Public School and Bacha Khan University. He said the enemy not only openly confessed to committing terrorism but also challenged the security institutions.

“The situation is beyond understanding as to why law-enforcing agencies are not handling terrorism networks properly,” he said and underlined the need for assessing the causes of their failures.

Appreciating the Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif, he said his declaration about his retirement had stopped rumours about him. “The army is an institution and the new army chief would be selected from the present team of generals,” he maintained.

Fazl appreciated the reconciliation efforts between Iran and Saudi Arabia made by Pakistan. He said it would bring peace in the region. He said action against religious seminaries was the western countries’ agenda.

Responding to a query, Fazl demanded more powers to the newly-elected local government representatives as solution to the people’s problems. The mechanism of horse-trading should be eliminated by giving more powers to LG representatives.Earlier, Fazl visited the family of deceased scholar Moulana Yasin to condole his demise.