Peshawar: Emir Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, Engineer Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, has said that the ongoing displacement of patriotic residents of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the adjoining tribal districts as a result of repeated military operations must be stopped. He stated that problems can never have a lasting solution through the use of force, and that the government should try to resolve issues through dialogue. Before launching any new military operation, previous operations should be reviewed and the nation should be informed about how much peace was actually achieved as a result of those operations, he said. Jamaat-e-Islami, he emphasized, will never support humiliating peaceful citizens by forcing them to leave their homes due to military operations.
Hafiz Naeemur Rehman expressed these views while addressing a press conference at the provincial headquarters, Markaz-e-Islami, Peshawar. On the occasion, Deputy Emir Jamaat-e-Islami Professor Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, Emir Jamaat-e-Islami Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Central Abdul Wasey and others were present.
Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said that providing relief to the public is nowhere to be seen among the priorities of the federal and provincial governments. In severe winter conditions, both the federal and provincial governments are equally responsible for displacing hundreds of thousands of affected people in Tirah district. He said that unfortunately, since the Musharraf era, a policy was adopted-at America’s behest and for dollars-of displacing people through military operations, and every government that came afterward continued along the same path. After Musharraf, the governments of Zardari, Nawaz Sharif, Imran Khan, and now Shehbaz Sharif are all a continuation of one another.
He said that from the creation of Pakistan until the Musharraf era, the tribal areas were considered safe, but later, in the war for American interests, our rulers turned these peaceful areas into heaps of explosives and centers of unrest. He added that a population of around 250,000 in Tirah district is being displaced, and in this process both the federal and provincial governments are on the same page. The province’s chief minister’s own ancestral area, Tirah, is currently under the shadow of a military operation, while the chief minister is touring Punjab and Sindh for the release of his leader.
Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said that the practice of imposing governments contrary to public opinion continues in the country, as a result of which those in power do not consider themselves accountable to the people. This, he said, is the reason the country remains mired in instability.
Condemning the bombing that damaged the home of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Maulana Waheed Gul in Bajaur the previous day, the Emir Jamaat-e-Islami said that just a few months ago, the government was claiming that Bajaur had been cleared of unrest through a military operation. He stated that the current problems and difficulties can only be resolved by a government formed through the will of the people, but a shameful policy of sabotaging public opinion is being practiced here.
He further said that in Karachi, Jamaat-e-Islami won the mayoral election with a clear majority, but its mandate was stolen and a mayor from the Pakistan Peoples Party was imposed on the city. The PPP, he noted, has been in power in Sindh for the past 40 years. Hafiz Naeemur Rehman concluded by saying that only a government formed through proportional representation and genuine public mandate can lead the country toward real change.