LAHORE, Oct 17: The Pakistan Muslim League alleged on Wednesday that Gen Pervez Musharraf had extended open-ended cooperation to the United States to have his government recognized at the international level and to perpetuate himself in power.

Former minister of state Ahsan Iqbal, chairman of the party’s Mobilization Committee told a news conference the country had been a net loser as a result of the policy adopted by the military government in the wake of the Afghanistan crisis.

He said at the country should at least have got compensated for hosting 2.7 million Afghan refugees for the past 21 years. He said at a dollar a day per person Pakistan could have demanded $1 billion.

Mr Iqbal said Gen Musharraf had failed to argue Pakistan’s case at the international level, spending more time instead on projecting himself as indispensable.

He said Musharraf government’s policy had dented Pakistan’s credibility at international level. If Pakistan could be Afghanistan’s ally one day and an adversary the next day, no country would ever trust it as a friend.

Mr Iqbal, who was head of the Programme 2010 launched by the PML government, claimed that a political government could have better handled the situation after the Sept 11 attacks on New York and Washington. An emergency meeting of the OIC foreign ministers could have been called to evolve a joint plan of action.

A reporter pointed out that an OIC meeting after US attacks on Afghanistan had not even condemned the air strikes, implying that a meeting before the attacks could have fare no better. The PML leader, disagreed with the suggestion. He said the OIC foreign ministers had avoided condemning the attacks on account of Pakistan which had joined the international coalition.

“By hastily joining the coalition against Taliban,” he said, “the government of Pakistan had hampered the OIC decisions.”

In his opinion the available political and diplomatic avenues had not been exhausted before jumping to military action against Afghanistan.

The PML leader said the government’s choice would lead the country to a civil war and threaten its integrity. There was a possibility, he said, of the government and people would be pitted against each other. He demanded that Gen Musharraf announce when action against Afghanistan would come to an end and take the nation into confidence regarding the quid pro quo for the help Pakistan was providing to the United States.

PML Punjab president Zulfiqar Khosa criticized President Gen Pervez Musharraf for addressing a joint press conference with the US secretary of state, saying it beneath a president’s dignity. He said Foreign Minister Abdus Sattar, Mr Powell’s counterpart in Pakistan, was the right man to address the media with the US secretary.

PML’s Punjab secretary-general Saad Rafiq said the provincial leadership was meeting in Lahore on Thursday to discuss the situation and decide the party’s course of action. He said the participants could decide start agitation.