The only politician who never exploited religion and instead devoted his life to serving the people honestly was Quaid-e-Azam, who gave us a country, where we can live as citizens of a free state, enjoying equal rights irrespective of caste, creed, ethnicity and sex. There were many other pioneers of the political freedom struggle waged by MAJ, who devoted all their energies to achieving Pakistan.
Islam and all three major monotheistic religions stress that faith must be practised and not exploited to sow seeds of division, but instead stresses basic human values and tolerance for dissent and other faiths. There are numerous Hadiths and decisions by the Supreme Court of Pakistan which clearly states that Jihad can only be waged by the State and it alone has a monopoly over the use of force. No country in the world can survive if it allows private militias to be formed, bear arms and threaten the state with the use of force. Even this excuse of so-called tradition to bear arms openly must be dealt with sternly. We face threats from ISIL, DAESH etc who have exploited Jihad and witnessed likes of TLP etc. who threatened this country under the garb of Jihad.
Even today we face Zia’s legacy and scourge of terrorism, extremism and sectarian strife. There should be zero tolerance if any political party or group, including PTI etc., threatens to wage Jihad against the state. Pakistan facing a financial crisis, cannot afford any such misadventures.
MALIK TARIQ ALI
LAHORE
