Media Office Hizb ut-Tahrir Pakistan

LC 21 01 2013

Monday 9^th Rabi-ul-Awwal 1434                    21/01/2013                  No:13010LC

Letter of clarification

To,

The Editor,

Pakistan Today,

Assalamoalikum,

This is in reference to the article published on your website titled “The Hizb ut-Tahrir files-Part-1” authored by Shahab Jafry on 25^th December 2012. We wish to make the following points:

1.      Hizb ut-Tahrir is a global political party which is working in more than 40 countries in the Muslim and Non Muslim World. It was founded by Palestinian Judge and Scholar Sheikh Taqiuddin Nabhani and is currently headed by the Scholar Sheikh Ata Abu Rashta. Its global leadership is Arab and resides in the Arab lands. Hizb ut-Tahrir has set up a Central Media Office in Beirut Lebanon which is headed by Osman  Bakash. Any questions related to Hizb ut-Tahrir’s global activities can be directed to him. He is reachable at media@hizb-ut-tahrir.info or Tel/Fax:009611307594, Mob:0096171724043.

To imply that Hizb ut-Tahrir is headquartered and financed by the UK government is a lie based on mal-intent to malign the party and its call. Over the course of sixty years of its political struggle in the Muslim World, Hizb ut-Tahrir has strongly attacked the interference of Western Colonialists in Muslim lands and has criticized the Muslim rulers for being lackeys of Western powers including Britain and America.  Infact Hizb ut-Tahrir has attacked the Pakistani government and traitors in the political and military leadership for receiving loans and foreign aid from Western Powers as such loans and aid provide these Western states political control over the affairs of the Muslim World, something which is not allowed from Islam.

2.      Hizb ut-Tahrir has defined politics as “taking care of the affairs of the Ummah” and proceeds on this path by adopting the interests of the Ummah and exposing the plans of the colonialists. We have therefore severely criticized General Musharaf for being an American agent who supported the American Crusade against the Muslims of Afghanistan and who brought this war of Fitna to Pakistan’s tribal areas and urban centers.  We believe this war has weakened the Pakistani state and its armed forces and has destroyed its economy and has resulted in the suffering of its people. We continue to criticize and account, General Kayani, the current Army Chief, for having taken the baton of being the guardian of American interests in the region from his boss and predecessor General Musharaf. Under General Kayani’s watch and with his support America spread her war of Fitna from Pakistan’s tribal areas to settled areas like Swat, Karachi and other urban centers. General Kayani has supported the drone attacks on Pakistan’s territory, America’s attack on Abottabad and helped secure the NATO supply line through Pakistan after the Salala attack. He has allowed increased intelligence and military footprint for American security officials who spearhead the “Raymond Davis Network” which is responsible for bomb blasts across Pakistan which are aimed at garnering public support for America’s War on Terror. We believe that General Kayani’s disastrous policies against Pakistan and its armed forces need to be stopped and he should be held accountable for his crimes. Terming such accountability as “mutiny” or being “anti-state” is serving the American agenda for Pakistan, something which is not suitable for a newspaper which operates in the Muslim lands and whose responsibility should be to serve and secure the interests of the Muslims.

3.      Hizb ut-Tahrir calls upon the armed forces to fulfill their oath to protect the people of Pakistan and reminds them of their duty to their Deen and asks them to fulfill their obligation to their Lord. The loyalty of the Armed Forces is not to a single individual who is bent upon using the Muslim forces to secure the interests of foreign powers. Rather the Muslim soldiers of Pakistan’s armed forces are required to follow their Lord’s command and should play their role in establishing the rule of Islam in Pakistan. The ruling system of Islam is Khilafah, and not democracy. The method to establish the authority based on Islam is to seek it from the armed forces just like Prophet Muhammad (SAW) sought authority from tribal leaders and men of authority in the Arabian Peninsula. Working with Hizb ut-Tahrir to establish the Islamic Khilafah in Pakistan is not mutiny, rather it is fulfilling the Shari obligation on the people of power. A handful of traitors in Pakistan’s armed forces have hijacked the military institution and they term any attempt to free the armed forces of Pakistan from their influence as a mutiny. We remind the officers in the armed forces that there is no obedience to the creation in the disobedience to the Creator. That they should fulfill their duty to Allah and grant Nusrrah to Hizb ut-Tahrir for establishing the Khilafah state. And the author should remember that the Islamic punishments prescribed by him for mutiny are for those individuals who rebel against the Islamic authority and an Islamic state.  And surely all such individuals who created obstacles in the establishment of the Islamic state would be treated as traitors and punished accordingly once the Islamic state returns.

Journalistic ethics requires that Pakistan Today instruct its employees to thoroughly investigate and confirm any information they publish in their newspaper or website. Moreover it is only fair to demand that Pakistan Today publishes this clarification, as it is, so that its viewers and readers can know of the stance of Hizb ut-Tahrir regarding the baseless and false allegations leveled against it in your paper. To not do so, would be tantamount to willfully hiding the truth and would be construed as serving the state’s policy of spreading negative and false propaganda against Hizb ut-Tahrir. And for the sake for fairness, we hope that any such news item will not find any space in your paper without the party’s response towards it.