Drone Attack, Bid To Obstruct Peace Process : Pakistan Religious Leader

Islamabad, June 1, IRNA -- Chairman of Difa-e-Pakistan Council and chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Maulana-Sami Saimul Haq expressed concern on the US-drone attack in North Waziristan, saying it would impede the peace process in the country, local media reported on Friday. In a latest attack on Wednesday, the US spy aircraft fired missiles on a house and killed at least six people. Tribesmen and security sources say that Pakistani Taliban’s second-in-command, Wali-ur-Rehman Mehsud, was killed in the attack. Talking to reporters at the Darul Uloom Haqqania in Akora Khattak, Maulana-Sami Saimul Haq lamented that the attack was carried out at a time when the newly elected government had announced holding talks with the Taliban for restoration of durable peace in the country. He said the attack was an attempt to obstruct the peace efforts, which the newly elected representative had intended to start with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). “The US Secretary of State had recently indicated that talks, not the use of force, is the better option to resolve this issue,” he said and added that the attack at such crucial time had raised many questions about the intentions of the US government towards Pakistan. He asked the government to quit the war on terror in the best interest of its citizens. The JUI-S leader asked the military and civilian leaders to focus on this issue as the pervasive violence in the country would prove an obstacle to addressing power and economic crisis./end