ISLAMABAD Sept 9: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) parliamentary party has asked the government to bring basic changes in the foreign policy vis-a-vis Pakistan’s relations with the United States and Afghanistan.

A meeting of the six-party religious alliance’s lawmakers, held at the parliament house here on Tuesday, rejected the American president’s ‘telephonic pressure’ on General Musharraf for sending Pakistani troops to Iraq, and demanded of the government to declare in unequivocal terms that Pakistan would not send its troops to “kill Muslim brethren in a Muslim state.”

Briefing newsmen about the parliamentary party proceedings, MMA Deputy Secretary-General, Liaquat Baloch, said the Majlis viewed Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Indian visit with great concern, and termed it a setback in the efforts for restoration of Indo-Pakistan bilateral dialogue.

The MMA considered Indian Muslims’ protest against Sharon’s New Delhi visit a reflection of the overall sentiments of the Muslim world as the Israeli prime minister was “a murderer and a war criminal”, Mr Baloch said.

The meeting, he said, was of the view that the connivance of the United States, Israel and India was highly dangerous for Pakistan, particularly because the country was playing the role of a frontline state for the American interests.

The alliance also expressed its concern over the continued American patronage of India in South Asia and that of Israel in the Arab world to disrupt the peace in the entire region.

The MMA demanded of the government to review its relations with the US and its Afghan policy, and said General Musharraf’s foreign policy had been a total failure and Pakistan was “moving fast towards isolation”.

It said the president should play the role of a spokesman of the Islamic world rather than supporting Western secularism and American attempts to dominate the world.

The MMA welcomed prime minister Zafarullah Jamali’s statement that he would take the opposition into confidence before embarking on the American tour. It called for convening a meeting of all parties’ heads in this regard. During the meeting, the MMA said, the issue of the Legal Framework Order should also be settled.

Mr Baloch, however, said: “We see the US visit by both president Musharraf and prime minister Jamali at the same time with concern.”

Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, deputy parliamentary secretary, said Mr Jamali’s pre-planned stopover in front of the parliament house and expression of solidarity with some women NGO workers about Hudood ordinance was strongly condemned during the MMA meeting.