ISLAMABAD: The Jamiat Ulema Islam Fazl (JUI-F) Ameer and Chairman of Parliamentary Kashmir Committee Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said that the government has agreed on their reservations over the amendment regarding military courts.
In an exclusive interview with this news agency here on Wednesday, he said that his party had accepted an extension of military courts after the federal government agreed on removal of words ‘religion’ and ‘sect’ from the text of the National Action Plan (NAP).
He said the JUI-F had expressed its reservations over the military courts in the 21st Amendment in the Constitution and then opposed linking terrorism with religion and religious sects as prescribed in the National Action Plan. “If all political parties agreed on extension of military courts for the sake of establishing peace, the JUI-F would have no objection”, he added.
About the tribal reforms and the future status of Fata, the JUI-F chief said the federal government had also agreed on bringing the tribal areas into the mainstream after five years and the party would withdraw the demand of referendum to decide the future status of Fata only in national interest.
“We believe that all decisions related to the tribal areas should be taken with the consensus of tribesmen and the tribal people are in a position to decide their own fate at the moment,” he said and added that the JUI-F would oppose any decision imposed on the tribal people.
He said that repatriation and rehabilitation of hundreds of thousands of temporary displaced persons was the primary concern that needed to be addressed. He said that the JUI-F wanted a respectful return of all tribal TDPS to their respective towns, provide them all the basic necessities including health and education and then let them choose their future status regarding the tribal belt.
Maulana said the government should focus on rehabilitation and reconstruction process of the tribal belt to improve the health and education sectors in the tribal areas.
To a question, he said that the Senate Deputy Chairman and secretary general of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri was also denied a US visa which led to the cancellation of his visit to New York for a meeting of Inter-Parliamentary Union at the United Nations on February 13-14. He was to lead a two-member delegation.
About the lingering Kashmir dispute, he said Kashmir is the jugular vein of Pakistan and maintained that one day it will be the part of Pakistan. He said peace in South Asia is linked with settlement of the Kashmir dispute. “The way to peace in the entire region passes through Kashmir,” he added. He said that India should realize that it cannot suppress a just freedom struggle through brutal use of force forever. The JUI-F chief said that India is carrying out ceasefire violations to divert the attention of the world from human rights violations in Kashmir. He said that Pakistan will continue its support to the Kashmiri brethren for their just struggle to right to self determination. INP
