SPY EYES

Federal Information Minister Pervaiz Rasheed,  stated that the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement directed at the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief  Munawar Hassan was not an interference in politics, Express News reported on Tuesday.

“ISPR’s statement is the voice of every Pakistani,” said the information minister, endorsing ISPR’s condemnation of the JI chief Munawar Hassan calling the the slain Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Hakimullah a ‘martyr.’

The Jamaat-e-Islami had held a meeting on Monday to specifically discuss the Pakistan Army’s press statement.

“The Pakistan army does not have the right to make political or democratic statements,” JI General Secretary Liaquat Baloch had stated.

Baloch also said that a letter regarding the involvement of ISPR in politics would be sent to the Prime Minister.

“Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has not received any letter from Liaquat Baloch,” revealed Rasheed, who is a known figure in the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

Background

In addition to calling Mehsud a martyr, JI chief had reportedly said on television that if an American who died on the battlefield was not a martyr, then his backers were also not martyrs because they were chasing the same goal. This was implicitly directed towards the Pakistan Army.

The ISPR had then demanded an apology from the JI chief and stated that Hassan should take his words back.

Within 24 hours of Pakistan Army’s angry rejoinder to a controversial statement by the JI ameer Syed Munawar Hassan, the party’s Shura (consultative body) had pored over the issue during a meeting on November 11.

Though no formal clarification was issued as was demanded in the ISPR statement, JI leaders had said their party considered everyone who dies fighting for the country a martyr (Shaheed).

The Shura meeting – which was chaired by JI chief Syed Munawar Hassan – had agreed that the armed forces have no right to interfere in politics or democratic issues. Briefing the media after the meeting, JI Secretary Baloch had said the Shura decided to draw the government’s attention to the matter because the military’s interference in politics was unacceptable.

JI chief Hassan had stated that his statement regarding the Pakistan Army was correctaccording to Sharia Law during a party session held in Lahore on November 11.

JI Secretary Baloch and senior JI leader Fareed Piracha were also present at the session, which was held to specifically discuss the Pakistan army’s response to Hassan calling the slain TTP chief Mehsud a ‘martyr.’