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Madaris, media agree to extend full support against terrorism: Nisar
Minister says India adopts hostile stance against Pakistan since Modi came to powerAPP
ISLAMABAD – Minister for Interior and Narcotics Control Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Saturday said that representatives of madaris and media had agreed to extend full support to the government in war against terrorism and extremism.
Speaking at a press conference after meetings with representatives of madaris and media here, he said historic consensus had emerged on the National Action Plan (NAP) during the two meetings. “In the meetings, we saw historic consensus as everybody spoke like a Pakistani and agreed to extend support against war on terrorism.” He said that everybody including politicians, religious scholars and journalists had realized gravity of the situation.
The minister said that everybody was capable of playing its role to defeat terrorism, adding nobody should be in doubt that it would be a long war not restricted to a single incident of terror. “We want to protect our country, our children, our women and our values. We want to make Pakistan a peaceful country free of chaos,” he said. He said that a historic consensus resolution was passed in the meetings about the blasphemous sketches published by a French publication about the most sacred Islamic personalities.
“We strongly condemn the blasphemous sketches published in the French publication. Freedom of expression is taken as a joke there. Those who are committing blasphemy are adding fuel to the fire, on the issue of terrorism,”Nisar said. “On behalf of the government and people of Pakistan, we welcome the statement of Pope Francis on the issue," he said. The minister said that civilized and democratic nations should not look at the situation from only their perspective and they should have expressed solidarity with Islamic world which was hurt by the disrespect shown to Islamic personalities.
The interior minister said that the leaders of seminaries from all schools of thought during the meeting unanimously supported the government and military in war against terrorism. “They fully backed the government efforts to end terrorism and extremism in Pakistan,” he said. He clarified that the leadership of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F (JUI-F) had once again reposed confidence in the 21st Amendment passed in the parliament.
“It will be our effort to remove concerns of the two parties which have certain technical reservations on the legislation,” he said. Nisar said during the meeting it was agreed that if there was any proof against a madressah that it facilitated terrorism and extremism, then administrators of madaris would support the government in taking action. “There is no proof against more than 90 per cent madaris that these are involved in any kind of terrorism,” he noted.
He said that it was also agreed that all madaris including those in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) would be registered and would provide details about students. He said that all the representatives of media organisations during the meeting categorically stated that they would support the government and state in war against terrorism and would not remain impartial on the issue.
The minister said that journalist should use its power to support Pakistani state in the prolonged war against terrorism. “We have to make life difficult for terrorists. We have to fight this war in streets of the country,” Nisar said. “Today we are facing a complex situation as the war against terrorism has come to our streets. We have no option to lose this war. Survival of our country depends on defeating the terrorists,” he added.
The minister said that the terrorists wanted to unnerve the Pakistani nation and create disunity and depression among them. He said that the federal government had shared intelligence months before the major terror incidents in the provinces. “We are receiving intelligence excerpts that terrorists are trying to carrying out more terrorist attacks. So the nation should send out a message of unity instead of finger pointing at each other.”
The minister said that arrests have been made due to the information conveyed by the public on the anti-terrorism helpline 1717. “The number of hoax calls have also considerably decreased after an appeal made to the pubic through media.” He said that the terrorists wanted to kill all the children at the Army Public School in Peshawar, adding no country was involved in the incident and Afghanistan was extending all kind of cooperation to Pakistan to take action against those involved in the heinous act.
Nisar said that he wanted to assure that on every occasion during the meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry, the government protected interests of Pakistan as a sovereign and independent nation, “We told US Secretary of State, John Kerry in the meeting that Pakistan is focused on its western borders, so there is no reason for it to create problems at its borders with India,” he said. He said India had adopted hostile stance against Pakistan since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power.
To a question, he said the propaganda of India about Samjohta Express was based on lies. He said that the present government had not taken any assistance from United States, adding first the assistance given by the United States to the previous governments should be reviewed to determine where it was used.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk