Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) chief, Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Friday said the recent constitutional amendments give the impression of strong bias against some specific religious institutions. No action can be taken without the consent of the religious madrassas, according to him.
Talking to media persons after a meeting with Chief Minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, he said that CM Punjab heard his reservations concerning the recently passed bills in the Parliament. He said the CM had told him that he would discuss the matter with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
He further stated that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations must be wiped out. We want terrorism to be eradicated completely but the new amendments might be used for targeting religious groups in the country, Fazl reiterated. He said Shahbaz Sharif and he discussed various matters of mutual interest, overall political situation and counter-terrorism measures of the government.
He said that JUI reiterates that all religious establishments, educational institutions including Madrassas are behind the government and country's armed forces and they do not want any polarisation in society.
He said the elimination of terrorism is possible only by forging unity among our ranks. He said that Pakistan belongs to all of us and every citizen is required to fight the war on terror for the survival of the country. Both the leaders agreed that there is no room for terrorists in Pakistan. Talking about Imran Khan's wedding, Fazl said "getting married is no crime," adding that Islam allows a man to marry up to four women; however, "I am satisfied with one marriage," he quipped. "Not 'Naya Pakistan' but Imran Khan has succeeded in the shape of his marriage with Reham," said Fazl in answer to a question.
He said he still held the same stance that words 'religion' and 'sect' should be removed from the 21st Amendment. The JUI-F Chief said that if the words are not removed then in that case tribal as well as ethnic-based terrorism should also be added to the law. According to him, constitution speaks about an action against all forms of terrorism without specifying any group or sect or institution.
JUI-F has following objections over the recent adopted 21st constitutional amendment:
(i) The draft should remove words of "religion" and "sect" used almost twelve times giving an impression as if terrorists have no religion or faith, so all terrorists are simply taken and treated as terrorists. The purpose of the amendment is to deny them (terrorists) any space for exploiting a narrative based on religion or sect as a justification for horrendous acts.
(ii) All acts of terrorism committed in the name of religion, sect, language, province, ethnicity should be treated as terrorism and brought before military courts.
(iii) Fifteen (15) days' right of appeal in Supreme Court against a military court decision be accepted in the draft. If SC could not decide in15 days, military court's decision to be treated as final judgement so as to ensure maximum safeguards against the possibility of miscarriage of justice.
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