October 31, 2001	Wednesday	Shaba'an 13, 1422

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SAHIWAL, Oct 30: JUP chief Maulana Shah Ahmad Noorani has criticized the demand for a broad-based government in Afghanistan.

Speaking at a meeting of the Sahiwal District Bar Association, he claimed that no country had a broad-based government. In the US, the 49 per cent population which voted for Al-Gore had no representation in the Bush government.

He said the Northern Alliance could not form a broad-based government as the Taliban enjoyed the support of a majority of the Afghans.

He claimed that a Taliban government in Afghanistan was the need of the country. Since the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban, anti-Pakistan slogans like ‘Pakhtoonistan’ had died down, he said.

The Maulana said the US wanted to get a base in Afghanistan to have control over oil resources in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and other Russian states. The oil resources in the Middle East had been fulfilling the needs of European countries for the last 70 years and the fears that these reserves might go dry were haunting the US and its allies, he said.

Maulana Noorani urged the government to hold the general elections as directed by the Supreme Court so that representatives of the people could handle the situation in a better way.

Later, talking to newsmen, the Maulana said Redcliff and Mountbatton conspired against Pakistan by dividing the Gurdaspur district into tehsils. This was done with a bad intention to keep the doors open for Kashmir to India.

“Pakistan’s nuclear facilities are in safe hand and cannot be damaged by American or Israeli commando units getting training for this purpose in the US,” he said.