LAHORE, Sept 29: The Jamaat-i-Islami on Wednesday alleged that the government is preventing people from attending its three-day congregation at Nowshera, NWFP.

Information secretary Amirul Azeem and foreign affairs in-charge Abdul Gaffar Aziz told a press conference that the government was denying visas to most of its foreign delegates from 50 countries.

They alleged that caravans of activists were being blocked in southern Punjab towns of Sadiqabad, Muzaffargarh, Khanewal, etc. Police and district governments were being used to stop people from reaching Nowshera, they maintained.

They said the transporters whose vehicles had been hired for carrying JI activists to Nowshera were returning the amount under pressure from government officials. Mr Azeem said the participants would be informed about the party policy on the issue of uniform.

He told a questioner that the ARD had been along with them (the religious alliance, MMA) in the past (on the LFO, etc. issues) and would remain so when the MMA activists would come on roads. He said all political and religious parties as well as the president and the prime minister had been invited to the Nowshera congregation.