PESHAWAR - Central Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Munawar Hassan, on Sunday demanded of the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to sort out Afghan Taliban’s support in the dialogue process to end deadlock and restore peace.
Addressing a meeting of party workers in Peshawar, the JI chief urged the PM to take initiative and called upon committees of the two sides to listen to their concerns and viewpoints. Munawar Hassan said Pakistan has a bitter experience of army operations, saying that previous actions have turned many parts of the country into ‘Bangladesh’.
The JI leader’s views came hours after military fighter jets pounded suspected militant hideouts in Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency bordering Afghanistan, killing 20 terrorists in early morning strike.
On Saturday, nine militants were killed and several others injured in shelling by army gunship helicopters on militant hideouts in areas of Hangu district, three days after retaliatory strikes left dozens of militants dead in North Waziristan and Khyber Agencies.
Taliban’s chief negotiator and chief of his own faction of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-S) Maulana Samiul Haq has appealed to the government and banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to announce a ceasefire.  JI’s Professor Ibrahim, who is also part of the Taliban negotiating team, calls for ceasefire and urged the government to refrain from any military option. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan demands enforcement of Shariah in the country as a condition of peace and ceasefire.
Staff Reporter from Lahore adds: A spokesman of the Jamaat-i-Islami has said that MQM chief Altaf Hussain has tried to present the statement of JI chief Syed Munawar Hasan out of context in order to give a wrong impression.
Commenting on Altaf’Hussain’s statement on Sunday, the spokesman said that JI was a patriotic and Islam loving party and it advocated dialogue to prevent the menace of terrorism from spreading all over the country.
He said it believed that the use of force did not help solve the issues and the warring parties had to finally sit on the negotiating table. The spokesman said that those demanding military action were infact, pursuing the international agenda to unleash chaos and disruption in this country.  The JI, he said wanted peace, and purposeful talks were the only way to bring peace to the country.
He said that ever since the MQM emerged, peace had vanished in Karachi.
Meanwhile, Jamaat e Islami chief Syed Munawar Hasan and Secretary General Liaquat Baloch have condemned the bomb blast near the Kohat police lines on Sunday and expressed deep grief over the loss of life there.
In a joint statement, they said that the present government had completely failed in its duty to protect life and property of the masses. They prayed for the departed souls and the quick recovery of the injured persons.