KARACHI, Jan 25: The All Parties Conference has condemned the manner in which nuclear scientists have been treated and demanded that they be released immediately.
The demand was made in a resolution adopted at the APC on Sunday under the auspices of Jamaat-i-Islami at the Idara Noor-i-Haq which was presided over by Senator Prof Ghafoor Ahmad, the deputy chief of JI.
The resolution further called upon the government to extend an apology to the nation for the "excesses" committed in this regard and to promise that nothing of this sort would happen again. The APC also urged the government to stop appeasing the US.
Expressing its concern and indignation over the treatment meted out to the scientists, the APC said the US and western powers did not like to see an Islamic country develop nuclear weapons. "The harassment campaign against the nuclear scientists in the country is a part of the US drive to discourage the Muslim scientists in entering the nuclear arena. Later on the nuclear programme will be rolled back by declaring it uncalled for," said the resolution.
The APC expressed solidarity with the nuclear scientists and their families and declared that they were national heroes. The nation would protect them and no government would be allowed to bargain away the nuclear programme.
The participants of the moot asked whether any other country had ever treated their nuclear scientists in the same manner in which the Pakistani ones had been recently. "The Indian example is before us where a scientist was made president of the country while in Pakistan nuclear scientists are being painted as criminals and terrorists."
Prof Ghafoor Ahmad said after Afghanistan and Iraq, the target for the US was Pakistan. The Americans were happy and satisfied over the 'debriefing' of the nuclear scientists while the entire nation was perturbed and upset.
He said the government was instrumental in weakening the defence of the country by suggesting that nuclear technology was in the hands of individuals who could barter it away. "If Pakistan had a nuclear bomb in 1971, the Indian army would never have dared enter East Pakistan to turn it into Bangladesh," he remarked, adding that even today it was the nuclear capability which was the biggest thorn in the Indian side.
Eminent politician Mairaj Muhammad Khan said after a shabby treatment had been meted out to the scientists in the name of debriefing, the army should be asked why were there surprises when nuclear technology had always been in its control. He added that Pakistan could not match the Indian traditional weaponry without the help of nuclear capability.
Mr Khan said the statement by Gen Musharraf which stated that Islamabad was ready to make South Asia nuclear-free was against the interests of the country. "We should make it clear that the people of Pakistan at no cost will roll back the nuclear programme."
Habibuddin Junedi of the PPP said the humiliation of the nuclear scientists was an insult to the nation and this issue should be raised in the parliament.Bostaan Ali Hoti of the PML said the nuclear programme was a great achievement, however, the scientists should not be free to do whatever they felt like. The issue deserved to be debated in the parliament.
Hafiz Muhammad Taqi of the JUP said that if the government failed to change its policy regarding the nuclear scientists, the MMA would launch a countrywide protest movement. Amin Khattak of the ANP said the internal and external policies should be subservient to the interests of the people and no scientist was competent to take vital decisions on his own.
Maulana Abdul Karim Abid of the JUI said MMA had played an important role in steering the country out of a constitutional crisis but it did support all the government policies. Syed Zia Abbas of the National Peoples Party said the defence of the country was not just the issue for the government. It was the issue for the entire nation.
Other speakers at the APC included Mehfoozyar Khan, Jamshed Ahmad Khan, Shaikh Rafique Ahmad, Noor Muhammad Lakhani, Abdul Sami Khan, Amanullah Khan, Muhammad Ahmad Dara, Muhammad Hussain Mehanti, Abdul Sattar Afghani, Nasrullah Khan Shajee, Basharat Mirza, Zaman Tanoli, S.M. Haider and Mian Muhammad Irshad.
