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Islamists hit back at Musharraf`s outburst on Talibanisation
Peshawar, June 12: The Islamist-ruled local parliament in Pakistan`s North West Frontier Province observed two minutes` silence in protest over President Pervez Musharraf`s tirade against their orthodox Islamisation programme, reports said today.
Peshawar, June 12: The Islamist-ruled local parliament in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province observed two minutes' silence in protest over President Pervez Musharraf's tirade against their orthodox Islamisation
programme, reports said today.
Musharraf has accused them of defying the people and Pakistan's founders by trying to impose a Taliban style of Islam, giving Pakistan a negative fundamentalist image when it needed to be progressive and modern.
Musharraf brought his renewed outburst against the MMA to its heartland Tuesday when he inaugurated a tunnel in NWFP's Kohat district.
He said there was no room for Talibanisation in Pakistan and flayed attempts to order people to wear veils and discard Western dress. "This reflects shallow-mindedness," he said.
"Pakistan has to decide whether we want a Talibanised version of Islam, or a civilised and progressive version of Islam in its true spirit," Musharraf said.
The six-party religious alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) which rules NWFP retorted defiantly that it would not be swayed from its Islamisation drive, for which it claims a popular mandate.
"As long as we are in power in the province we will take steps in accordance with Islam and within in the bounds of the Constitution," provincial law minister Malik Zafar Azam told the local assembly.
Azam said while the MMA government had not ordered people to grow beards, beards were in accordance with Islamic teachings. NWFP Chief Minister Akram Durrani vowed the MMA would not compromise on its Islamic manifesto.
Bureau Report
Musharraf brought his renewed outburst against the MMA to its heartland Tuesday when he inaugurated a tunnel in NWFP's Kohat district.
He said there was no room for Talibanisation in Pakistan and flayed attempts to order people to wear veils and discard Western dress. "This reflects shallow-mindedness," he said.
"Pakistan has to decide whether we want a Talibanised version of Islam, or a civilised and progressive version of Islam in its true spirit," Musharraf said.
The six-party religious alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) which rules NWFP retorted defiantly that it would not be swayed from its Islamisation drive, for which it claims a popular mandate.
"As long as we are in power in the province we will take steps in accordance with Islam and within in the bounds of the Constitution," provincial law minister Malik Zafar Azam told the local assembly.
Azam said while the MMA government had not ordered people to grow beards, beards were in accordance with Islamic teachings. NWFP Chief Minister Akram Durrani vowed the MMA would not compromise on its Islamic manifesto.
Bureau Report