LAHORE - Over 100 clerics from Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) on Sunday urged Tehrik-e-Taliban Afghanistan Amir Mullah Omar to force the Pakistani Taliban to halt terrorist activities in Pakistan.
According to details, more than 100 ulema and mushaikh belonging to SIC, through a statement, appealed to the Taliban chief to order the Pakistani Tabiban to halt terrorist activities in the soil of Pakistan and force them to accept the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan so that the conspiracy of America against the Muslim Ummah could be foiled.
In the statement, they said Pakistan always helped Afghan people and it was the only country that accepted the Taliban’s government in Afghanistan in the past. They said due to terrorism, Taliban were maligning Islam while countless families had been suffering due to terrorism. They said the act of Pakistani Taliban was against the spirit of jihad.
These clerics include: SIC Chairman Sahibzada Hamid Raza, Haji Hanif Tayyab, Allama Muhammad Sharif Rizvi, Allama Muhammad Akbar Rizvi, Mufti Muhammad Saeed Rizvi, Sahibzada Ammar Saeed Sulemani, Pir Syed Muhammad Iqbal Shah, Pir Zia-ul-Qasmi Mashhadi, Allama Nawaz Bashir Jalali, Allama Hamid Sarfraz, Mufti Muhammad Younis Rizvi, Mufti Muhammad Haseeb Qadri, Mufti Muhammad Karim Khan, Mufti Muhammad Ramzan Jami, Allama Mushtaq Ahmed Noori, Muhammad Ghulam Murtaza Mehrvi, Mufti Ghulam Nabi Fakhri and others.
Agencies add: The appointment of Mullah Fazlullah as new TTP chief could not have been applicable if he had not got a green signal from Afghan Taliban chief Mullah, a Britain-based news website report said Sunday.
Unlike the Mehsud who was from Waziristan, Mullah Fazlullah hails from Swat. The decision was made to avoid rumours of a split within the banished outfit turning into a reality. Interestingly, TTP's Shahidullah Shahid announced Fazlullah to be new Pakistani chief from Afghanistan. The underlying impression given by Shahid was that a meeting of the Taliban council (shura) was held in Afghanistan as its last meeting held in North Waziristan where a US drone strike had killed Hakimullah Mehsud.
According to sources quoted in the report, the 17-member central shura held several sessions for three days to reach a consensus on appointing a new chief as up to six commanders were vying for the position.
The deadlock was however broken by Mullah Omar, considered "Ameerul Momineen" by TTP, who stepped in and named Fazlullah as the man for the job.
Fazlullah is said to have a closer relationship with Mullah Omar than any other member of the TTP and carries a five million rupees bounty on his head which was announced by the Pakistani government.
His appointment is considered a major win for the anti-talks proponents within the TTP as Fazlullah has been the most vocal member to oppose talks with the Pakistani government.
Meanwhile, TTP on Sunday denied demanding the release of the Tehrik Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi chief Maulana Sufi Muhammad in exchange of the kidnapped Vice Chancellor of Islamia College University Professor Ajmal Khan.
Talking to a private TV channel, the TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid has said that Taliban have never made any demand for the release of Sufi Muhammad, father-in-law of the new TTP chief Maulana Fazlullah, or releasing Prof Ajmal.
He said Sufi Muhammad was respectable for the Taliban, but news regarding such demands were baseless.
The TTP spokesman also warned the media to refrain from spreading baseless news about the Taliban.