‘Too much hue and cry over Malala attack’: Fazl lashes out at media, establishment

PESHAWAR: Jamiate Ulema Islam (F) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman on Saturday lashed out at the establishment and the media for their silence over the killings of seminary students and the incarceration of Dr Aafia Siddiqi in the US while making “too much hue and cry on the attack on Malala Yousufzai”. 

“Why is it that everyone is criticising the attack on Malala Yousufzai, while there is complete silence over the issue of Aafia Siddiqi?” he questioned.

He was speaking at a condolence reference held in the memory of late MPA Ziad Akram Durrani, the elder son of former chief minister and leader of the opposition in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, Akram Khan Durrani.

The JUI-F chief said that nobody would be allowed to “play politics on the Malala issue”. “Why are media outlets, establishment and human rights organisations, that kept quite over (the incarceration of) Dr Afiya Siddiqi (in the US), making too much hue and cry over attack on Malala Yousufzai,” he questioned again.

He said that his party was against atrocities, “be they committed by Taliban or the US,” he added. “We will not allow any body to build a Sheesh Mahal on Malala’s issue,” he maintained.

Fazl slammed the establishment and the media over their silence over the killings of seminary students in Federally Administered Tribal Areas. “Why aren’t these brutal acts as widely condemned?” he questioned.

From day one, JUI-F had been trying to maintain peace in the country, but certain hidden hands were bent upon dragging “our youth to a blood-stained future,” Maulana Fazl said.

He criticised the government and said that too much resources were made available for creating a liberal society, adding that the country’s youth were being portrayed negatively.

“We believe in peacefully restoring Islamic laws,” he said.

He said that he was saddened that not all religious parties were on a single platform.

He said that if JUI-F had not been in Parliament, the country might have been turned into a “secular state”, adding that his party had blocked all such moves.

Former chief minister Akram Khan Durrani, speaker of the provincial assembly Kramatullah Khan also spoke on the occasion.