'Pakistan break-up be probed afresh

LAHORE A senior MNA who is also head of the Sunni Ittehad Council demanded on Thursday reopening of the case of dismemberment of Pakistan so that elements responsible for the breakup of what was once the biggest Islamic state could be exposed and punished. Sahibzada Haji Fazle Karim, who is also chairman of the Markazi JUP, said while delivering a lecture at Aiwan-i-Waqt that if a presidential reference could be sent to the Supreme Court to have the 30-year old trial of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto re-examined, there was no reason why the tragedy that Pakistan had been through could not be looked into afresh. The leader from Faisalabad had been a stanch ally of the PML-N. However, he has developed differences with the leadership and now doesnt like to be bracketed with them anymore. He is equally critical of the MMA, a dormant alliance of religious parties, and alleges that although it has been in power in two provinces during the Musharraf rule it had failed to implement even a single Islamic law. As a result, he said, people stood disappointed by religious parties. He made it clear that the SIC would not make electoral alliance with any religious party. He said the Sunni Ittehad Council, the umbrella organization of the Sunni groups, offered a new alternative to the electorate for the solution of all problems facing the country. A blueprint of the strategy would be presented at a conference to be held on the Minar-i-Pakistan lawns on Sunday (April 17). The government is not allowing the SIC to hold the moot, but the Sahibzada insists he will go ahead as scheduled. Questioning the governments reluctance to grant permission for the conference, he said the stance was in conflict with the rulers earlier assertion that such moots should be held at the historical venue, so that the rest of the city remained undisturbed. He said the conference would afford an opportunity to the SIC to gauge its popularity among the masses. Critical of the Taliban militants, he said killing Muslims, targeting mosques and blowing up educational institutions could not be called Jehad. He alleged that West was providing money to the so-called Jihadi organizations to have Pakistan destroyed. Its a conspiracy to defame Islam and destabilize Pakistan. The Sahibzada said the CIA had used Gen Ziaul Haq for the disintegration of the Soviet Union. It was not Jehad at all, he said, recalling that then JUP leaders Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani and Maulana Abdus Sagttar Khan Niazi had described it as 'fasad, ofr mischief. He attacked both the government and what he called friendly opposition, saying both had failed to perform their respective duties. It was strange, he said, that more than 10,000 people had been killed in terrorist activities, but no accused had been arrested. He said even those responsible for attacks on Data Darbar and Sakhr Sarwar shrine had not been apprehended. A bloody revolution will become unavoidable if the situation goes unchecked, he warned. He demanded that all written-off loans be recovered and all political leaders keeping their wealth abroad bring their money back to Pakistan. Those failing to do so would have no right to rule the country, he said. Asked why he was not resigning as MNA as he had been elected with the PML-Ns support, Sahibzada Fazle Karim said his party had also supported many PML-N people in the elections. He said he would resign if the PML-N lawmakers also did the same. He was all praise for Nawa-i-Waqt Chief Editor Majid Nizami and his brother late Hameed Nizami for their services to the country.

ePaper - Nawaiwaqt