KARACHI, Feb 10: Intellectuals from a cross-section of society have announced their solidarity with the people of Iraq and all those who hate war and love peace.

In a joint statement, signed by more than 32 intellectuals, including writers, journalists, lawyers, medical professionals and social activists, they said: “Now that the American imperialists are determined to launch a war of annihilation against Iraq, they have come out with their real intentions that what they actually want is not simply a change of guard in Baghdad but to install a puppet regime in Iraq. The imperialists want to redraw the political map of the Middle East with a view to gaining total control over the oil reserves of the area which they expect will lead to their monopoly control of material resources at the global level.”

Expressing solidarity with the people of Iraq, the intellectuals announced that they would stage a big rally and hold a public meeting on Feb 28 befitting the cause and the occasion.

It was also decided to hold a rally on Feb 15 outside Karachi Press Club as part of the campaign to create awareness of the horrors of war and of the need for peace.

They said: “We hold human life, freedom and human dignity to be of utmost importance. We ardently desire our planet to be free from nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction.

“We believe that it is the peoples’ strength the world over and their resounding ‘no to war’ slogan which have so far acted as a brake on the US from attacking Iraq, and we hope to prevent them further from their destructive moves.”

The signatories to the statement included Muslim Shamim of the Progressive Writers Association, Rahat Saeed of the Irtiqa, Saba Ekram and Hasan Abidi of the Pen for Peace Forum, Rizwan Qureshi of the Aurat Foundation, Nuzhat Kidwai of the WAF, M. Arif Khan of the Lawyers Forum for Peace and Development, Fasih Salar of the Awami Fikri Mahaz, Zubaida Mustafa, and Sharafat Ali of Piler.