By IANS,
Islamabad: Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani Tuesday urged the Ulema to come forward and project the true image of Islam and to counter extremism and terrorism.
“The Ulema played an important role in Pakistan’s creation and now again it is time that they stand united to protect the country from all challenges,” APP quoted Gilani as saying while addressing the national Ulema and Mashaikh conference here.
The conference comes a day after an all-party conference endorsed the military operations against the Taliban in three districts of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) that has seen the elimination of some 1,000 militants.
The conference was aimed at ensuring that the religious scholars speak in one voice against militancy and extremism.
Speaking about the deliberations of the all-party conference, Gilani said: “There were no differences and no Sindhi, Balochi, Punjabi or Pakhtoon, they all spoke with one voice for Pakistan.”
The security forces had gone into action April 26 after the Taliban violated a controversial peace accord with the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) government and moved south from their Swat headquarters to occupy the Buner district that is just 100 km from Islamabad.
The operations had initially begun in Lower Dir, the home district of Taliban-backed radical cleric Sufi Mohammad who had brokered the peace accord, and later spread to Buner and Swat.
The security forces’ action has seen nearly 1.5 million civilians fleeing the area.