ISLAMABAD: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said that there is no political consensus for a military operation against Taliban.
“There is a consensus among all mainstream political parties on peace dialogue between the government and the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan but there is no political consensus on military operation against them,” he said in a statement on Friday.
“Former president Gen Pervez Musharraf had also tried to evolve a political consensus on military operation against the Taliban but failed,” he said.
The JUI-F chief said Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had been against the military operation when he was in the opposition but had changed his line after coming to power.
JUI-F spokesman Jan Achakzai said his party wanted the government to consult all political parties before launching a military operation.
He said there had been two parliamentary resolutions on dialogue with the Taliban, two `all-party conferences’ called by then prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, two multi-party conferences held on the demand of the JUI-F and one convened by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, but the military operation and its repercussions had not been discussed.
The spokesman said the JUI-F believed the army had the capability to conduct a successful operation and clear the Taliban-dominated areas but the civil security forces were incapable of coping with the aftermath.
“It is feared that militants will move from one place to another and even to settled areas if a military operation is conducted against them in their strongholds in the tribal areas,” he said.
“We fear that militants will sneak into major cities like Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore in the guise of displaced people and the police do not have the capability to net them while entering the settled areas.”