Pakistan: Irresponsible Statements of Religious Leaders
By Zaheerul Hassan
On 10 November ISPR Spokesman Major General Asim Bajwa strongly condemned the irresponsible and misleading statements of Syed Munawar Hassan in a TV programme, declaring the dead terrorists like Hakimullah Mehsud and Baitullah Mehsud as shaheeds, whereas soldiers those who sacrificed their lives fighting against terrorism are not shaheed. Similarly JUIF leader Fazlur Rehman stated that anyone killed by US is a ‘martyr’. He also said, “If US kills a DOG, we will consider that DOG as Shaheed”. In fact both religious leaders simply insulted the Shahadat of thousands of innocent Pakistanis and soldiers of Pakistan’s armed forces who shed their blood for the nation and Islamic State. In a rare rejoinder to religious leader’s statement, Pakistan Army on November 10 had strongly condemned the remarks of Munawar Hassan and demanded an ‘unconditional apology’ from him.
“Syed Munawar Hassan has tried to invent a logic based on his political convenience. Strong condemnation of his views from an overwhelming majority leaves no doubt in any one’s mind that all of us are very clear on what the state of Pakistan is and who its enemies are,” a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) had said.
The army’s spokesman had further expressed: “The sacrifices of our shuhada [martyrs] and their families need no endorsement from Munawar Hassan and such misguided and self-serving statements deserve no comments.” Pakistani Prime minister also acknowledged the sacrifices of the soldiers during his visit to GHQ.
In response, on 13 November, JI has written a letter to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and alleged that the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) press release condemning JI chief Munawar Hassan’s statement and directly asking him for an unconditional apology was a grave violation of the 1973 Constitution.
In fact, patriotic Pakistani, loved ones of Shaheed got perturb on the thinking for such type leaders. Overwhelming majority of Pakistani people rejected Munawar Hassan logic based on his political convenience and point scoring. Major General Asim very rightly said that thinking of such type so called religious leaders also made it clear that who the enemies of the state are. Pakistani nation and security forces lost over 50000 lives in war on terror. The nation has no mercy for the terrorists like Hakimullah and Fazlluah who beheaded soldiers and innocent people. They are just bluffing the nation in the name of religion.
Moreover, in a recent TV programme, the JI chief had reportedly said that if an American who died on the battlefield was not a martyr, then his backers were also not martyrs because they were chasing the same goal. This was implicitly directed towards the Pakistan Army. By issuing such type of statement regarding security forces, Munawar Hassan has tried to undermine the efforts of the soldiers against terrorists and militants who are playing foreign agenda. Fazlullah and Hakimullah are two established terrorists who used to act as instruments of RAW and CIA. Maulana Fazalullah, who personally briefed the attackers of Malala Yousafzai is a declared terrorist in Pakistan, but enjoys special privileges in Kabul and now elected as new TTP Chief is very much linked to some covert design. Under this situation Pakistan security forces are giving tremendous performance against covert and overt enemies of the country. In fact, we all knew that Terrorism is being nurtured by external forces and their intelligence agencies are deeply involved in promoting terrorism inside Pakistan. On 15 November a clash between two groups left 11 people dead and many others injured in Rawalpindi during a Muharram procession. In this regards, eyewitness of affected areas revealed that some terrorists erupted the peaceful procession and killed many.
Unfortunately, just to cash the votes in elections political parties adopted the cheap ways of criticizing security forces. Supporting terrorists and criticizing ISI and security agencies by religious leaders and others have become fashion on electronic and print media. They do not know that such type of propaganda is equivalent to strengthening adversaries’ hands against Pakistan. We must know that our adversary never let any chance of letting Pakistan down. Recently, Indian Army chief Gen (R) VK Singh openly confessed that special intelligence unit like technical services division “were raised by India to operate inside Pakistan including Balochistan and Azad Kashmir”.
At the end, I will suggest Munawar Hassan to seek apology and change his statement regarding terrorists and TTP, since they are being played by anti Muslim states against Pakistan. Notably, 23 TTP Militant commanders have been arrested by Pak Army during different operations. He must also know that the precious blood of our military personnel is on these heads. Our religious leaders should display responsibilities while issuing statements on national interests and avoid touching controversial issues. Rawalpindi violence is again a current example of weak administration and reckless conduct of our religious leaders. Thus they need to mend their ways and divert their energy to create harmony among the nation.
The writer can be approached through zameer36@gmail.com.
