ISLAMABAD, Pakistan:  Syed Shujaat Ali Bokhari, Additional Secretary General of Tehreek-e-Nafaz Fiqh-e-Jafariya Pakistan, has advised the President Pervez Musharraf to ban the participation and interference of banned groups in political affairs so as to restore durable peace in the most sensitive Northern Areas.
 
He stated this while talking to a delegation of ulema, intellectuals and social personalities of the Northern Areas that called on him under the leadership of Hojjatul Islam Muhammad Ali Al-Hussaini at Bokhari House on Saturday. The delegation apprised the TNFJ Additional Secretary General about the prevailing issues and the latest law and order situation in Northern Areas in detail.
 
Shujaat Bokhari said we had informed the government during the last elections in the Northern Areas that contesting elections from sectarian platform should be prohibited but no one lent ear to our suggestion the pros and cons of which are now being faced by the government and the people in the shape of unrest and anarchy.
 
He lamented that the banned groups are not only being given coverage on the media rather the powers that be and political circles were also using them under the law of necessity contrary to the national collective interest. He said it is a national tragedy that in any action or operation against terrorism and anti-social activities, the culprits get a clear escape. The innocent citizens are sent to jail those who patronise the miscreants are invited in peace meetings.
 
He said that as per a saying of Quaid-i-Millat-i-Jafariya Agha Syed Hamid Ali Shah Moosavi, there is no sectarian conflict in any part of the country including Northern Areas but it is the clash of interest on the part of some particular banned groups who operate according to time and situation on the initiation of their foreign masters. The government and the opposition should tighten noose around them instead of using them for their self-interest.
 
The Northern Areas delegation also extended an invitation to the TNFJ Additional Secretary General Shujaat Bokhari to visit the Northern Areas.