|
|
|
| October 14, 2005 | Friday | Ramzan 9, 1426 |
Fazl defends Durrani’s NSC decision
PESHAWAR, Oct 13: Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman has defended the participation of NWFP chief minister in the National Security Council meeting, presided over by Gen Pervez Musharraf, and termed it a humanitarian gesture on the part of Akram Khan Durrani and his cabinet.
Speaking to journalists after his hour-long meeting with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz at the Frontier House on Thursday, he said the nation was passing through the worst moment of its history after the unprecedented devastation wrought by the earthquake in the north-eastern belt of Hazara and Muzaffarabad. The people expected from its national political leaders to shun their differences and launch a rescue and rehabilitation effort in the calamity-hit areas, he added.
Minister of Industries Jehangir Khan Tareen, Minister of State for Finance Omar Ayub Khan, Minister of State for Water and Power Amir Muqam Khan and some provincial ministers were also present on the occasion.
Maulana Fazl, who is also chief of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, said that a large number of displaced and injured people, whose kith and kin had died under the debris of their own houses, were waiting for food and shelter in the collapsed villages of Batal, Battagram, Alai, Balakot and Muzaffarabad.
He said the sufferings of quake victims had forced him (Mr Durrani) to attend the NSC meeting convened to assess the losses and prepare a rehabilitation plan.
He said four MMA components — Jamiat-Ulema-i-Pakistan, JUI, Jamiat Ahle-i-Hadith, and Tehreek-i-Islami — had allowed Mr Durrani to attend the NSC meeting and secure funds for the rehabilitation of people of Hazara.
The people of Pakistan themselves had responded with a great sense of humanism and patriotism and they wanted the same from their political leaders, he added.
The Maulana said MMA chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed was opposed to the participation of Mr Durrani in the NSC meeting because the six-party alliance had rejected the formation of the council, but all the other MMA parties endorsed it.
He said Prof Sajid Mir, Allama Sajid Naqvi, Prof Shah Fareedul Haq and Maulana Naqshbandi asked him (Fazl) to give the chief minister go-ahead to attend the meeting.
He said the federal government had released Rs500 million to the provincial government and it had approved Rs1,000 million more for carrying out relief activities in the stricken areas.
He said the MMA supreme council would look into the reservation of Qazi Sahib in its next meeting and convince him about the majority’s decision.
He denied that Mr Durrani’s participation in the NSC meeting would create fissures in the alliance, because it was a majority decision. He said this decision was an outcome of a particular and sensitive situation which had moved the entire nation.
|
|
|
|
