March 8, 2003	Saturday	Muharram 4, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, March 7: After their unprecedented unity on the Legal Framework Order (LFO), Pakistan’s opposition parties on Friday again showed rare unity on the most significant foreign policy challenge that Pakistan faces today.

All parties on Friday emphatically demanded that Pakistan oppose any resolution at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), which would support military action against Iraq.

The opposition parties at a joint press conference here made this unanimous call on Friday afternoon, shortly after the National Assembly session was adjourned till Monday due to rumpus in the house over the LFO.

The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) parliamentary leader and Jamaat-i-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed was the first to raise his voice against the proposed US resolution. He said his party’s call for the ‘million march’ on Sunday would convey this loud and clear.

He claimed that the million-strong march on Sunday will be a national referendum on Pakistan’s rejection of any military action against Iraq.

The Jamaat chief was critical of the government for not taking a clear-cut position on Iraq when most UNSC members had already made their stance known. “Pakistan must vote against the proposed US resolution and it should not abstain,” was Qazi Hussain’s fervent plea.

Attacking the authors of the country’s foreign policy, he said: “We will set aside the foreign policy drawn up by other institutions and we in parliament will make Pakistan’s foreign policy.”

The PML (N) leader Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, Tehriq-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan and other opposition party leaders endorsed Qazi Husain’s view on the Iraq question. Javed Hashmi and Imran Khan also declared their support for the JI’s ‘million march’ and said their party members would also participate in it.

“This is the first time in Pakistan’s history that there is such a strong opposition and it will not let the government vote against Iraq at the UNSC at the expense of the country,” asserted the PML (N) leader.

“Pakistan should take a clear position against the second US resolution,” said Javed Hashmi, who accused the government, just as other opposition leaders did, of taking a dictation from President Bush.

Even though after repeated questions, the PPP parliamentary leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim finally did say on Friday that his party was opposed to any resolution that will support military action against Iraq.

“We are against war and opposed to a resolution that calls for military action,” he stated when pressed for PPP’s stand on the proposed US resolution. However, unlike other opposition leaders who announced participation in the ‘million march’, he did not announce his party’s participation.

With mounting opposition against any US resolution for a military attack on Iraq, the PPP has clearly come under pressure. Earlier reports indicated the party chairperson had directed the party members not to support anti-US position either in parliament or on the street.