A disturbing report in Daily Times today says that Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah took Sipah-e-Sahaba (SSP) leader Maulana Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi on a ride in his car and visisted the extremist organization’s madrassa. This organization has been banned by the government, but still Rana Sanaullah is visiting and treating its leader as a V.I.P.  What can be the excuse for this?

The Daily Times says,

Mr Sanaullah was on a by-election campaign for a provincial assembly seat in Jhang, but it cannot be said with certainty if he paid a visit to the seminary for electoral purposes or deep-rooted extremist linkages. Even if it was for purely electoral purposes, should the law minister have taken along a sectarian leader with him on an election campaign?

Obviously, the answer is no. Even if it was only for purely electoral purposes, this is unacceptable because it gives some false authority to SSP as a legitimate organization when it is clearly not one. Actually, not only is this organization banned but it is known to be a principal ally to militant groups that are attacking and killing our innocents.

According to a report, ‘Pakistan: The Militant Jihadi Challenge’ by the International Crisis Group published in 2009, “The recent upsurge of jihadi violence in Punjab…demonstrates the threat extremist Sunni-Deobandi groups pose to the Pakistani citizen and state…Punjab-based radical Deobandi groups like the SSP and its offshoot Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ) provide weapons, recruits, finances and other resources to Pakistani Taliban groups…The SSP and LJ are also al Qaeda’s principal allies in the region.”

Rana Sanaullah should have not contact with groups like SSP except as working to forever remove their menace from Pakistan’s soil. That a government official would be conspiring with the enemy – even in looks only – is beyond understanding.

The Punjab government has long been in denial over the presence of terror outfits in Punjab, particularly South Punjab. The audacity of the PML-N to call itself a ‘progressive’ party — at best, it is a centre-right party — when it is pursuing such policies should serve as a wake up call for the people of Pakistan. If we want to rid our country of extremist ideology, our lawmakers should set an example instead of giving official patronage to terror outfits. An appeal to the Punjab government: stop living in denial and take effective measures to make our country safe from extremist elements.