LAHORE - Jamaat-e-Islami acting chief Liaqat Baloch has said that the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) is a constitutional body and its dissolution cannot be allowed.

Speaking at an Iftar dinner in the city, he said that the attitude of the Senate Standing Committee blaming the CII for violence against the women was unjustified as there were several factors behind this problem.

He said that certain elements were trying to find an excuse for dissolving the CII. However, he said the CII was a constitutional body that could not be dissolved.

Baloch said there had been long standing demand for the reconstitution of the CII but the government was not considering that. He explained that the CII was an institution that made recommendations for framing laws in the light of the Holy Quran and the Sunnah in accordance with the spirit of the Islamic provisions of the constitution.

However, he said, that such legislation was not being done. He said that a handful of secular elements were trying to attack the Islamic symbols under the cover of the CII.

He said it was unfortunate that the government and the opposition had not reached an agreement on the ToRs’ for setting up a judicial commission till now and added that both the sides were not serious.

The government did not want the accountability of the Prime Minister and was delaying the matter, he added.

However, he said, if the country’s politics remained in the hands of the corrupt, democratic system itself would suffer and the entire responsibility would be on the government as also the democratic political parties.

He said that due to wrong policies and in the absence of as clear cut foreign policy, anti state forces had been using the Afghan refugees for political ends. He said that Pakistan had been serving the Afghan refugees since long and if the refuges were pushed back to their country by force, Pakistan would be the loser.

The JI leader said the US had already created an atmosphere favourable for India in Afghanistan and against this country. Afghanistan was playing in New Delhi’s hands while India was carrying out subversive activities in this country from Afghanistan soil and the Pakistan government had several proofs of that.

He said that the federal and the provincial governments should sit down together and take some pragmatic decisions on this score.