LANDI KOTAL, July 17: Jamaat-i-Islami chief Munawar Hassan on Tuesday urged army chief General Pervaiz Kayani to explain to the nation the success of the ongoing military operations in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

“General Kayani had promised before the start of military operation in Swat that militancy from across the country would be completely eliminated and that it wouldn’t be allowed to resurface. Therefore, he owes an explanation to the entire nation how far the army has succeeded in eliminating or even curtailing militancy in the country,” he told a rally at Bab-i-Khyber in Khyber Agency against the reopening of Nato supply line.

Thousands of Jamaat-i-Islami workers from Fata and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa converged on the pass before staging a two hours sit-in and thus, suspending traffic on Peshawar-Torkham Highway.

The JI chief said if the army had achieved the desired results, then it was under moral and legal obligation to withdraw troops from Swat and Fata, and if it was not the case, then there was no justification for it to continue with military operations there.

He also urged the army to give the media a chance to independently report the results of the Fata military operations.

Mr Hassan said military operations and US drone strikes had caused great destruction in Fata and made thousands of families homeless.

“It is the responsibility of the army and PPP-led coalition government to immediately halt all military operations in tribal areas, compensate their victims, rehabilitate internally displaced persons and reconstruct infrastructure,” he said.

The JI chief said the ruling coalition had made the country a US colony and had reopened Nato supply routes in the country against the wishes of Pakistanis.

He said almost all political parties outside the ruling coalition were opposed to the restoration of Nato supply.

“We are the peaceful citizens of this country. We respect the law and believe in the supremacy of the Constitution and therefore, we’ve preferred peaceful struggle to anarchy,” he said.

Mr Hassan said JI workers would never violate the law but would continue making a peaceful struggle for the people’s rights.

He urged the people not to vote PPP and its allies in the next elections, saying these parties prefer US interest to that of Pakistan and serve their own interests instead of people’s interests after coming to power.

“It is a national obligation of all peace-loving and patriotic Pakistanis to remove the coalition of four big thieves and vote Jamaat-i-Islami to power,” he said, while referring to the ruling coalition of PPP, ANP, MQM and PML-Q.

Professor Ibrahim, Sirajul Haq and Mushtaq Ahmad also addressed the rally.

Participants later dispersed peacefully but the reopening of Peshawar-Torkham Highway took several hours due to heavy traffic.

The Khyber Agency administration deployed heavy contingent of khasadar and levies force along the road from Karkhano Market checkpoint to Jamrud for the security of participants.

The entry and exit points to the rally route were guarded well, while baton-wielding JI workers also preformed security duties.

The Jamrud Bazaar was shut down. However, vehicles carrying women, children and patients to Peshawar or Torkham were allowed to use Jamrud Bypass Road.

The rally, which began from Bagh-i-Naran in Hayatabad area, reached Jamrud seven kilometers away in almost one and a half hour.