Jamaat chief slammed over remarks on slain Taliban chief

Karachi: Jamaat-e-Islami chief Munawar Hasan`s description of slain Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Hakimullah Mehsud as a "martyr" on Monday drew sharp criticism from political parties like the MQM and PPP. Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain was the first to condemn Hasan`s statement and he was followed by Pakistan People`s Party leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. Mehsud was killed with other militants when a US drone targeted a compound in the lawless North Waziristan region on Friday. In a statement, Hussain said "every child in Pakistan" knows that 7,000 security personnel and over 40,000 citizens, including clerics and religious scholars, have been killed by the Taliban. He asked the `ulema` and scholars whether the "murderer of thousands of innocent citizens" can be called a martyr. "I believe that calling the Taliban leader`s death martyrdom is against the teachings of Islam and Prophet Mohammed, he said. Earlier, PPP leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari criticised Hasan and the Jamaat-e-Islami in a message posted on Twitter "(Jamaat-e-Islami) proving once again they were always anti-PK & still (are) anti-PK by declaring (Mehsud) shaheed. Some1 shld do 2 `em wht Bangladesh did w/ their JI," he tweeted. The Jamaat-e-Islami chief said yesterday that Mehsud was a martyr and asked the Taliban to carry on talks with the government.