KARACHI, Oct 19: Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Husain said here on Friday that an intelligence agency was behind the anti-America and pro-Taliban meetings and rallies in the country.

Talking to a delegation of Pakistanis living in the UK, Mr Hussain said in the present scenario it was the intelligence agency which was devising the country’s ‘covert policies’, ensuring its implementations and was the real government in Pakistan.

He said that demonstrations were being held in Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan but there were no such demos in the Punjab and pointed out that it was the policy of the intelligence agency to keep Punjab away from demonstrations and strikes.

Referring to initial statements by the US and the international community about the terrorists attacks in America on September 11, the Muttahida chief said Pakistan was urged to assist the US and international community in its fight against terrorism and Osama bin Laden with an indication that international community would reschedule and write off the debts and provide other benefits as well.

However, Mr Hussain said “the government agency in question conspired to activate the religious and jehadi groups on their payroll to see Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP provinces as their battleground against the US and the international community”.

The purpose of holding protest rallies and meetings in the three provinces was to show the world that the people in these provinces were obsessed with religious fanaticism and were against the measures taken by the international community in combating global terrorism, he added.

He said by keeping Punjab peaceful and its people aloof of protests and demonstrations, the agency wanted to convey that the province of Punjab was not only with the US but it was the only province that belonged to the people with liberal and moderate mindset, said a Muttahida press release.