Pak Ulema to broker peace between Iran, Afghanistan

Wednesday 14th October, 1998

TEHRAN, (NNI): Amir Jamaat-e-Islami, Qazi Hussein Ahmed has announced that a delegation of Pakistani Ulema would soon leave for Iran and Afghanistan to defuse tension between the two Muslim states, reports Radio Tehran.

The Jamaat Chief said he had intensified efforts in this regard and has also sought the consent of number of leading religious scholars for visiting Iran and Afghanistan. He made a special reference to Mufti Nizamuddin, Sahibzada Abdul Rehman Ashrafi, Maulana Abdul Malik, Maulana Hassan Jan, Allama Aqeel Turabi and Syed Sajid Ali Naqvi.

Qazi Hussein Ahmed said that a list of the names of the ulema would be sent to Iran and Afghanistan. The delegation would leave for Tehran and Kandahar after receiving response from the authorities of the two countries. Jamaat is already in touch with the Iranian authorities and Taliban and hoped that the efforts of the Pakistani ulema would certainly yield positive results, he added.

Qazi strongly criticised the foreign policy of Pakistan government by saying that just to appease the United States, Islamabad has annoyed its friends and neighbours like China and Iran. He said that Iran has always supported Pakistan in hard time but regretted the cold war like situation between Tehran and Islamabad.

Qazi Hussein feared a bloody conflict between Iran and Afghanistan if the prevailing tension between the two countries was not defused.