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Madrassa chief endorses teacher’s murder in DI Khan

* Teacher’s student also receiving threats
* HRCP to send fact-finding mission to area

By Ali Waqar

LAHORE: Liberals in Dera Ismail Khan are in a state of panic after Maulana Qari Khalil Ahmad of Madrassa Sirajul Uloom endorsed the murder of Jamshaid Nawaz Nayab, a former schoolteacher in the area, sources told Daily Times on Saturday.

People, alleged to be Taliban, shot Nayab outside his house in DI Khan on January 30, 2006. Nayab died on February 3, 2006 (Friday).

Sources said Qari Khalil had endorsed Nayab’s murder during a sermon on February 3. Qari Khalil had also condemned the growing liberal trend in the area, sources added.

One of Nayab’s students told Daily Times that he was also receiving threatening calls from certain elements after Nayab’s murder.

Nayab, who was the son of a magistrate, was known to be a liberal. He wrote 14 books advocating his approach and discussed the growing affects of Talibanisation in DI Khan. His students said Nayab expected to be attacked by Taliban-related elements.

“The murder was pure fanaticism and I have also started receiving threatening calls,” Nayab’s student said.

The student said nobody knew about the First Information Report or about the police investigation, as liberals in the area were scared. He said Taliban elements had become active for the past few months and many NWFP districts were gradually coming under their control.

Quoting some of Nayab’s books, the student said his teacher supported and advocated Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s secular approach and the idea of a secular Pakistan. He also discussed religious fundamentalism, conservatism and issues of freedom of expression in his books, the student added.

Asma Jehangir, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) chairperson, said on Saturday that such kind of incitement and encouragement by religious extremists had always created a bad image for Pakistan internationally. She said the government must act on such incidents.

Meanwhile, the HRCP is sending a fact-finding team to the area to make a survey of the situation and on the growing affects of Talibanisation. However, no date has been finalised yet for the mission.

Nayab’s student has recently written a paper on the growing affects of Talibanisation in the NWFP. He has also urged non-government organisations and human rights organisations to step forward and investigate the situation. He has demanded government action over Nayab’s murder.

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