LAHORE, Dec 30: Condemning direct involvement of the United States in the internal affairs of Pakistan, the Awami National Party (ANP) has warned Washington that it will intensify the already prevailing hatred against the US among Pakistanis.

Direct involvement of the US agency FBI in the arrest and investigation of Pakistanis suspected of working for Al Qaeda was not only a humiliation of the citizens but would also lead the youths towards extremism, feared ANP president Ehsan Wyne.

The Al Qaeda, Taliban and Osama bin Laden had been created, financed and armed by the US to utilize them against former Soviet Union in the name of Jihad, he told Dawn here on Monday.

He said all Muslim countries, especially Arab and African, had helped the Jihadis against Soviet Union and left them on their own after the defeat of the Communist state.

Mr Wyne held Washington responsible for terrorism in the name of religion in South Asia. “Sectarianism, religious extremism and drug mafias were unknown in the otherwise peaceful region until the United States introduced them to win its war against Russia.”

Urging the US to abandon the region after rebuilding Afghanistan at the earliest, he said its extremist policies in the war-torn country would result in further rise in extremism.

Condemning picking up of doctors by the FBI in two different incidents in Lahore, he urged the incumbent government to establish its own writ in the country and make the domestic agencies work and justify their establishment.

Such an open activity of a foreign agency was intolerable for an independent and sovereign country, the ANP chief said.

He also criticized American attitude towards Pakistanis living in the US and inclusion of Pakistan in the list of suspect countries.

Referring to Pakistan’s service in the so-called war on terror, Mr Wyne said it was ironic that instead of rewarding Pakistanis settled in America, the US administration was arresting them on flimsy charges.

He expressed the apprehension that the Pakistan government was weak and it would not take a stand on the issue. However, he warned the government and the US authorities that neither a civil nor a military government could be able to maintain relations between the two countries if Washington continued its oppressive policy. Demanding immediate release of the Pakistanis arrested in the US, Mr Wyne said they had been working hard to strengthen the super power’s economy for the last many years.