October 23, 2001	Tuesday	Shaba'an 5, 1422

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 22: The Afghan Defence Council (ADC) has demanded of President Musharraf to immediately step down after handing over power to a national interim government which could safeguard national interests.

In its meeting, the ADC, a conglomeration of several religio-political parties, decided to jointly launch countrywide protests against the US attacks on Afghanistan and the government’s help to the US-led forces.

The meeting was attended by ADC chief Maulana Samiul Haq, ARD chairman Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, JUP chief Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani, PML(N) chairman Raja Zafarul Haq, JUI(F) deputy secretary-general Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, J.I. deputy chief Liaqat Baloch, Tehrik-i-Ittehad’s Gen Hameed Gul, Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan’s Secretary-general Dr Khadim Hussain Dhalon and Tanzim-i-Islami’s Shamsul Haq Awan.

Meanwhile, the ADC has convened an all parties’ Jihad-i-Afghanistan conference on Oct 26 in Islamabad with the objective of preparing the people for Jihad and launch a movement for collecting Jihad fund.

Later, talking to newsmen, Maulana Samiul Haq said that the defence council was of the view that Gen Musharraf had been unable to protect the national interests and he should step down as head of state to pave the way for a national interim government.

He said the council had come to conclusion that the US campaign was turning into barbarism against humanity and it was an attack on the Islamic world as all the justice-loving people of the world had expressed their abhorrence to these atrocities.