Uzbeks, Arabs and other Muslims in the Tribal Areas are our brothers, and Al Qaeda and Taliban are not against Pakistan - says Qazi Hussain Ahmed

Qazi Sahib gets the limelight

Just as President Asif Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani were conferring about what to do about CIA drones attacking inside Pakistan, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, chief of the Jama’at-e Islami, addressed a jirga in Peshawar saying his party will block all supplies going to the NATO forces through Pakistan. He said his men will block all routes from Karachi to Torkham to prevent the 800 or so trucks that pass through to Afghanistan daily.

Qazi Sahib has upped the ante and can no longer wait for the PMLN to move forward on the judges’ issue to bring about the change he wants. He told the audience in Peshawar that “Uzbeks, Arabs and other Muslims in the Tribal Areas are our brothers, and Al Qaeda and Taliban are not against Pakistan and its nuclear programme”. By saying so he has placed himself at the head of the political elements that oppose military operations against the terrorists and has thus once again raised the profile of his party after breaking away from the JUI in the clerical alliance of 2002. It is a part of his “revolutionary” personality that he doesn’t allow his party to leave the political limelight. (Daily Times)