17 February 2004	Tuesday	25 Zilhaj 1424

PESHAWAR, Feb 16: The NWFP Jamaat-i-Islami, women's wing, on Monday asked the government to take parliament into confidence on the Kashmir issue. Speaking at a 'Kashmir conference' organized by the wing, Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal MNA Razia Aziz alleged that the government was moving towards a compromise on the issue.

The government should take the public representatives into confidence before negotiating on the Kashmir issue with India, a resolution passed at the conference said.

The speakers demanded that the government should not show lenience on the issue before the negotiations with India started. They condemned the Indian forces for terrorizing the Kashmiris. They criticized the debriefing of nuclear scientists and said it was being done on the directives of the United States.

The chief of the party's provincial women's wing, Bilqis Hussain, criticized "those misguiding people in the name of globalization andconfusing terrorism with Jihad." She said: "A true believer cannot be called a terrorist."

She condemned the humiliating behaviour of the government with the religious scholars and seminaries. "The West is afraid of the Muslim world due to its population and nuclear capability so it has been engaged in propaganda but we should saveour traditions and family system so that we can prepare our next generation for Jihad," she said.

She said the concept of gender equality was introduced by the West, which had deprived the women of their status. She said Muslim women should defend their scarf, a symbol of their modesty.

The chief of the Jamaat-i-Islami, women's wing, Peshawar district, AfiaZia, said the government should take up trade agreements with India after the resolution of the Kashmir issue. She said the government should adopt a clear policy on the Kashmir issue. She said over 87,000 Kashmiris had been martyred, including 6,700 killed in the custody of the Indian army.