JI advises govt, Taliban to observe ceasefire

LAHORE: Ameer, Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, Syed Munawwar Hasan has said that both government and Taliban should immediately observe ceasefire to ensure the success of talks.

Addressing a large Friday congregation at Mansoorah mosque, he further said the Taliban should refrain from such behavior which might obstruct the talks’ process. Similarly, the army should stop operation in tribal areas to pave the way for talks’ success.

Stressing that there is no substitute to dialogue, he added that even talks failed dozens of times, but an operation was not a substitute. If talks can be held with Pakistan’s sworn enemy India for six decades or with US and NATO, why not with the Taliban, he asked. Talks should continue as long as these produce positive results, he went on to say.

Syed Munawwar Hasan welcomed the ulema’s moot convened by Maulana Samiul Haq on Saturday on the issue and stressed that the leaders of religious parties and the ulema should unite on one point agenda to take the talks to success.

He said that as long as the government and the armed forces were not on one page and the Taliban were not given an assurance that the agreement arrived at would also have army’s backing, the talks could not go ahead expeditiously. Therefore, the Prime Minister, the army chief and the ISI chief should meet the Taliban committee for removing their reservations on such issues. He also counselled the Taliban to stop their activities, so that anti-talks lobby did not get any excuse to play up and obstruct the talks’ process. He said the secular lobby in the country was much disturbed over the talks. Accordingly, these elements are chiding the government and blaming it for cowardice, and provoking it to crush the Taliban by force.

In such a scenario, the Taliban should also move wisely and foil the enemy’s designs. Syed Munawwar Hasan termed totally unjustified the verbal storm over PTI chairman Imran Khan’s remarks in the National Assembly. He said the army’s operation could be successful against an enemy but there was no possibility of its success against our own citizens.