19 December 2004	Sunday	06 Ziqa'ad 1425

HYDERABAD, Dec 18: The general secretary of the Jamaat-i-Islami, Sindh, Rashid Naseem, has said that the rulers have learnt no lesson from the Dhaka tragedy and they are repeating mistakes committed in East Pakistan.

He was speaking here on Friday night at a gathering organized by the Latifabad chapter of the party to mark the anniversary of the dismemberment of East Pakistan.

He said that Pakistan had come into being due to struggle of Muslims of the sub-continent but it had been disintegrated by the army generals.

He said that statements against the two nation theory and the Pakistan movement, similar to those made by Shaikh Mujibur Rehman, were being issued from London allegedly with the support of the rulers.

He said that those who had championed the cause of the stranded Pakistanis were again sitting in the corridors of powers but they were maintaining a discreet silence on the issue.

Mr Naseem said that God had bestowed all the natural resources upon Pakistan but unfortunately the country lacked efficient and honest leadership.

Others who spoke on the occasion include Shaikh Shoukat Ali, Rao Masood Ali Khan and Amir Abu Abdullah.

Our Correspondent adds: Speakers at an All-Parties Conference organized by the Jamaat-i-Islami have called for evolving a consensus among political parties not to allow any dictator to derail the democratic process in future.

They stressed the need for a joint struggle by political forces against the government which they said had undermined the Kashmir cause, supremacy of parliament and the Constitution and handed over the educational system to the Aga Khan Foundation.

Speaking on the occasion, JI secretary-general Syed Munawar Hassan said political parties should demonstrate unity because the country was passing through a crucial phase

He alleged that a bargain on the Kashmir issue was about to take place and under the garb of the peace process, Pakistan was offering all kinds of relaxations to India without ascertaining wishes of Kashmiri people.

He said any dialogue on the issue must be linked with the ouster of the Indian army from the occupied territory and the Kashmiri people should be compensated for the losses that they had suffered over the years. He called for allowing international media and observers to visit Kashmir.

He said President Gen Pervez Musharraf was maligning armed forces because it was not on the army's agenda to rule the country.

Referring to Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain's recent visit to India, Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal's MNA Sahaibzada Abul Khair Mohammad Zubair said the statement of the Sindh governor had proved that the visit was sponsored by the government.

He said the government had not clarified its position despite repeated calls by political parties. He added that the operation in South Waziristan in which innocent people had been killed also indicated that a conspiracy had been hatched to destroy the country.

He claimed that the release of Asif Ali Zardari was aimed at weakening the movement of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy.

He regretted that the Blasphemy Act had been amended with a simple majority and this law stood ineffective for all practical purposes.

MQM MPA Dr Arshad Shah said his party would support any movement by any political group aimed at opposing the army's intervention in the government and not alone by Gen Musharraf.

He said following the 9/11, the world had undergone a change which had made it compulsory that the president should hold the army post.

He further said past movements by political parties had ended up in martial law in the country and history was witness to the fact that religious parties had remained hand in glove with dictators but now they were opposing Gen Musharraf.

MMA MPA Abdul Rehman Rajput observed that the 9/11 had not changed the situation to an extent that people should start talking against the two-nation theory.

People's Party Parliamentarians leaders Zaheer Ghamman and Usman Kennedy, Pakistan Muslim League-N leader Afzal Gujjar, Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf leader Dr Abdul Samad Shaikh, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-S leader Maulana Sahbbir, MMA leader Abdul Waheed Qureshi, Mir Hyder Talpur and others also spoke at the conference.