Munawar’s martyrdom remarks: JI letter to PM against ISPR statement ready

LAHORE: Jamat-e-Islami (JI) has finalized the draft of the letter, it aims to move Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, over Pakistan Army's reaction to its chief, Syed Munawar Hassan's statement, in which he had said the slain terrorists were martyrs and the troops who died fighting them were not.

According to the JI spokesperson, Qaiser Sharif, the letter bears his party’s reservations over Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement , in which it had demanded that JI come clean on its position regarding Hassan's statement.

“The draft was on the JI chief’s table and will be dispatched to Prime Minister after final approval”, said he.

He added that, in the said letter, the JI, on top of expressing its concerns over ISPR's unduly strong exception to Hassan's statement, had also explained its stance on the issue at length.

The JI striking a defiant note had disregarded ISPR statement as an undemocratic intervention in the politics of the country.

It may be mentioned that in the Geo News programme ‘Jirga’, the Jamaat-e-Islami chief had questioned the martyrdom of Pakistani soldiers. He had asked the programme host, Saleem Safi, if an American who was killed fighting Taliban could not be called a martyr then how come the abettors of US could be.

Earlier on Sunday ISPR had strongly condemned the irresponsible and misleading remarks by the JI’s Munawar Hassan in a Geo TV programme, declaring dead terrorists as Shuhada (martyrs), while insulting the Shahadat (martyrdom) of thousands of innocent Pakistanis and soldiers of Pakistan’s armed forces.

In a statement, an ISPR spokesperson said Syed Munawar Hassan tried to invent a logic based on his political convenience. “Strong condemnation of his views from an overwhelming majority leaves no doubt in anyone’s mind that all of us are very clear on what the state of Pakistan is and who its enemies are,” the spokesman said.

“Sacrifices of our Shuhada and their families need no endorsement from Syed Munawar Hassan and such misguided and self-serving statements deserve no comments,” he said and added, “However, coming from the Ameer of the Jamaat-i-Islami, a party founded by Maulana Maududi, who is respected and revered for his services to Islam, is both painful and unfortunate.”

“The people of Pakistan, whose loved ones laid down their lives while fighting the terrorists, and families of Shuhada of armed forces demand an unconditional apology from Syed Munawar Hassan for hurting their feelings,” he said.

“The Jamaat-i-Islami should clearly state its party position on the subject”, the spokesman said.