LeJ must stop terrorism in the name of Islam: Imran
Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan.—File Photo
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Monday called out to the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) to quit terrorism in the name of Islam, holding the militant group accountable for the first time in a public speech.
“I explicitly take their name and call out to the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. If you carry out this terrorism in the name of Islam, then you couldn’t be greater enemies of the religion,” Khan told a press conference in Islamabad, naming the feared militant group for the first time.
The PTI chief’s press conference follows a deadly bombing in Quetta claiming 84 lives, with most victims belonging mostly to the ethnic Hazara Shia community. It was the second deadly blast in the city in little over a month, with an earlier attack claiming 93 lives, also mostly Hazaras.
Both attacks were claimed by the feared militant group LeJ.
“Islam is the religion of peace. Attacking innocent civilians is outright terrorism,” he said.
Critics have previously blamed Khan of not explicitly naming religious militants while condemning terrorism incidents, with detractors calling him ‘Taliban Khan’ for his advocacy of peace talks with the Pakistani Taliban.
Speaking to the media, Khan supported the demand of Hazara protestors for the deployment of Army in the provincial capital. He demanded that the culprits of the deadly bombing be brought to justice.
Khan also urged the chief justice to immediately take suo motu notice of the Quetta tragedy.
Terming immediate elections as the only solution to Pakistan’s problems, the PTI chairman further said that if mid-term elections had been held, the situation would not be as gloomy
Categories: Awareness, Belief, Constitution, Faith, Freedom, Human Rights, Interview, Islam in the press, Law and Religion, Pakistan, Uncategorized
We have been holding our breath for Imran Khan to say something on this topic!
Now we can breathe easy & see what happens next.
Imrab does not strike like a fundamentalist and the Mullah type of plitician but given Pakistan awaam/public’s sway on ciritcal issues such as the blesphamy law, we do not know how Imran will nevigate that.
If he truly is comitted to Insaf (justice) for all then he cannot preculude the rights of the Ahmadi Muslims to be treated as Muslims and to ensure they exercise their rights like all Muslims or all citizens of Pakistan.
a very very good initiative by Imran Khan
No Pakistani politician can think of making or initiating a discussion in which he could utter even one sentence in favor of Ahmadiyya point of view. You can well imagine from this example that when about 90 Ahmadis were killed in two worship places of Lahore, in May,2010, Mr Nawaz Shareef expressed sympathy with Ahmadiyya community on humanitarian ground and called them as our fellow ‘brethren’, the Maulvis were quick to call ‘NS’ as if he has gone astray, out of the fold of Islam. So please my respected TMT readers do not expect from any of these leaders any thing positive in favor of Ahmadis as peaceful,law-abiding ‘equal’ citizens of Pakistan.
Anwar Rajput: In the Muslim Times you may call a Mosque a Mosque.
Jazakallah brother Rafiq Sahib.I feel corrected, encouraged and strengthened to name our Pakisani places of worship in ‘TMT’ as Mosques.