January 26, 2006	Thursday	Zilhaj 25, 1426

KARACHI, Jan 25: The Ittehad Tanzeemat Madaris-i-Deenya, Pakistan, on Wednesday expressed its sheer disappointment over the government’s timid response to the violation of Pakistan’s airspace by the US forces, and asked the rulers to severe diplomatic ties with the United States.

At its second convention, held at the Binnori Town mosque, the Ittehad strongly condemned the US missile attack in Bajour Agency.

A large number of religious leaders, representing the full spectrum of Islamic schools of thought, attended in the convention. They decried the “conspiracies being hatched against seminaries” and vowed to foil them through stiff resistance.

Among the resolutions adopted at the convention, was one that called on Islamabad to withdraw its ambassador to Washington and expel the US ambassador in Pakistan after declaring him ‘persona non grata’.

Another resolution expressed sympathy with the affected people of Bajour Agency and prayed for the martyrs.

Through several resolutions, the convention condemned the government’s attempts to secularize the country by distorting its Islamic identity at the behest of Jewish, Aga Khani and Qadiani forces. It also demanded a ban on banning all types of women marathons in the country.

The convention demanded removal of the federal interior and education ministers for manipulating textbooks for removing religious chapters. It particularly expressed deep concern over the removal of a chapter about how to offer prayers.

The convention also adopted resolutions condemning the government for its failure to arrest any of those involved in the assassinations of religious scholars, indicating that many such figures had been eliminated over the past few years.

It demanded better security arrangements for ensuring safety of all religious scholars.

Expressing solidarity with the October 8 quake victims, the convention expressed concern over the Gen Musharraf’s statement with regard to the construction of mosques and madressahs in the quake-hit areas of Muzaffarabad and Balakot. It urged people across the country to donate generously towards the relief and rehabilitation as well as rebuilding of mosques and madressahs in those areas.

The convention slammed the government move to expel the foreign students studying in the country’s religious schools, and termed it violation of human rights. It asked the government to reverse its decision and apologize to the parents of such students for initiating the process.

Addressing a press conference after the convention, Secretary-General of the Ittehad Qari Hanif Jullunderi announced that the third convention would be held on February 15 which would be followed by a major convention planned to be held in Islamabad.

He told journalists that the Ittehad was an umbrella organization of some 15,000 religious schools of the country having a combined strength of 1.5 million students enrolled with these schools. He accused the government of taking steps to weaken the religious education system in Pakistan just to appease the United States.