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Pakistan’s New Government Urged To End Military Operation Against Taliban
The leader of Pakistan’s Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) religious party, Maulana Fazlur Rahman, has demanded that the new government headed by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani end the military operation against the Taliban in the federally administered tribal areas on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
The Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Jang quoted Maulana Fazlur Rahman as saying that Pakistan Army Chief Gen. Ashfaq Kiyani should withdraw troops from the tribal areas and from the Baluchistan province, where a low-intensity insurgency is underway.
Gen. Kiyani recently ordered all military officials to return from their civilian administrative posts. Over the years, serving and retired military officers in Pakistan have been appointed to numerous civilian positions.
Maulana Fazlur Rahman, who has extended his support to the coalition government being formed by Prime Minister Gilani, made the statement during a speech in the National Assembly, the lower house of the Pakistani parliament. According to the report, he expressed regret that religious leaders were accused of being terrorists, stating: ‘‘Who gave the West, the U.S., and President Pervez Musharraf the right to treat bearded [religious] men as terrorists?’’
Source: Roznama Jang, Pakistan, March 25, 2008
Posted at: 2008-03-25
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