Dear Editor

Nawa-e-Waqt Group of Newspapers, Lahore

Assalamu Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuhu,

On the 18th of December 2008, in the Daily Nawa-e-Waqt Lahore edition a news item was printed entitled "Aath barsoon kay doraan hukomat nay darjan say zaid jihadee tanzeemoon per pabandee aaed ki" in which along with various other groups Hizb ut-Tahrir was portrayed as a militant group. Though Hizb ut-Tahrir considers the ongoing Jihad to rid foreign occupation in Kashmir, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan and various other occupied Muslim regions, legitimate from a Sharii perspective but at the same time it believes that to bring about a change in the system and establish the Khilafah Shariah does not permit us to raise arms. Hizb ut-Tahrir takes its method for the establishment of the Khilafah from the Seerah of the Messenger of Allah (saaw) during his 13 years of stay in Mecca in which he refused to resort to any militant activity even at the insistence of his companions (ra). Hizb ut-Tahrir is purely a political party which is engaged in intellectual and political struggle for the re-establishment of Khilafah for the last fifty years. Hizb non-militant struggle is even recognized by its opponents and in this regard international journals, government statements and human right reports can be studied. In fact, Muslim governments can not present a better thought in response to the intellectual and political struggle of Hizb ut-Tahrir and in a bid to ban its activities they seek to link our activities with the militancy. In this context, this is not expected from a reputed daily of the like of Nawa-e-waqt that it would have become part of the government plan; this blunder must have been inadvertent. We hope that you will print this letter and a clarification note to rectify the wrong perception that have generated in the minds of the readers by reading that news item and for the correctness of the record.

Yours Sincerely,

Naveed Butt

The Official Spokesman of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Pakistan