ISLAMABAD: Maulana Samiul Haq has warned that Afghanistan would see a surge in violence following the ascension of new Taliban leader Mullah Haibatullah.

“Those who think that Haibatullah is a mere cleric and a seminary preacher will soon bear witness to his skill as a militant commander,” he told Dawn after a Defence of Pakistan Council (DPC) meeting in the capital on Monday, of which he is the coordinator.

But Maulana Samiul Haq, who is also the chief of his own faction of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, said the US was to blame for this. “It was America that resorted to violence again; the assassination of Mullah Mansour is nothing short of murder,” he added.

After listing acts committed by the US, which he described as deliberate steps to derail talks with the Taliban, Maulana Samiul Haq noted, “The martyrdom of Mullah Mansour will eventually help unite all the Taliban, since everybody will realise that talking peace with the US is futile.”

Claims Mansour’s killing will unite Taliban factions; DPC announces protests against ‘threats to Pakistan’

But when asked whether he had any links or was in touch with the new Taliban leadership, he evaded the question, saying, “Everybody knows everybody now — this is the digital age and they are in touch with the whole world.”

Organised by the Jamaatud Dawa (JuD), the DPC meeting called on US forces to leave the region. Participants were of the view that political and religious groups should come together to defend the country against the menace of drone attacks. JuD chief Hafiz Saeed stressed the need to make DPC more proactive to counter the threats faced by the country.

The first public gathering in this regard is expected to be held on June 5 outside the National Press Club in Islamabad. But while the meeting focused on drone attacks against targets in Pakistan, a large number of speakers also criticised the Punjab government and the security establishment for what they described as “extra-judicial killings” in the country.

It was decided that former Jamaat-i-Islami emir Syed Munawwar Hassan would be made the DPC co-coordinator to help with organisational matters.

The decisions taken at the meeting included the establishment of a ten-member committee to lobby with provincial governments, particularly the Punjab government, against the arrests of clerics and seminary students under the National Action Plan.

A resolution passed at the meeting said that the US had stabbed its trusted friend (Pakistan) in the back by killing Mullah Mansour, and called for blocking all Nato supplies to Afghanistan.

The meeting backed projects linked with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and noted that foreign powers — a clear reference to India — embroiled in a proxy war in Balochistan were trying to derail the CPEC.

DPC leaders decried Indian stubbornness over Kashmir, but also blamed the Pakistani government for its efforts to develop friendly relations with India despite the latter’s stonewalling on the Kashmir issue.

The DPC criticised Bangladesh for awarding death sentences to JI leaders, saying that while this was being done at India’s behest, the government of Pakistan had failed to do anything to stop the hangings.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2016