February 21, 2006	Tuesday	Muharram 22, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Feb 20: The second all-party opposition conference on Monday blamed the government for what it termed its failure to properly reflect people’s sentiments against the publication of blasphemous cartoons in some European newspapers and said it would continue its struggle until the government’s downfall.

Leaders of the PPP Parliamentarians and the ruling PML did not attend the meeting. PML’s president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and secretary-general senator Mushahid Hussain had attended the first meeting.

Convened and chaired by MMA’s president Qazi Hussain Ahmed and attended by most opposition groups, the Qaumi Majlis-i-Mushawarat called upon the OIC to take the cartoon issue to the International Court of Justice to seek suitable punishment for the newspapers which commited the blasphemy.

The conference endorsed decisions taken in its earlier meeting about holding a protest rally on Feb 26 in Islamabad, a general strike on March 3 and public meetings on the issue in Karachi and Quetta.

Most speakers urged the meeting’s organisers to set the conference’s priorities which, they said, should be an effective movement against the military-led government. They said it should continue till the fall of the Musharraf government and the establishment of what they called a true Islamic government in the country.

The speakers stressed the need for creating unity of purpose and unity of command in the leadership to achieve the objective of establishing Islamic democracy in the country and to end the dictatorial rule.

They were of the view that the country needed a change in its system of governance, a religious orientation and steps towards self-reliance.

Through a resolution unanimously adopted after about four hours of discussion, the conference called for initiating a debate on the issue of blasphemous cartoons at the UN level and to seek punishment for the blasphemers.

The conference also urged the western countries to adopt legislations to curb a recurrence of sacrilege and blasphemy in the future.

It called upon General Musharraf to resign because of his failure to advocate the cause of Muslim Ummah in the present onslaught by anti-Islamic western forces, although he had hastened to become part of US-imposed international coalition in the so-called war on terrorism.

The declaration expressed the determination of the leadership to continue its struggle till the enforcement of ‘Nizam-i-Mustafa’ in the country.

Those who attended the conference included leader of opposition Maulana Fazlur Rahman; Raja Zafarul Haq, chairman PML(Nawaz); Zafar Iqbal Jhagra, secretary general ARD; Imran Khan, chairman PTI; Hafiz Abdur Rahman of the Makki Jamaat Dawa; Allama Jalil Naqvi, Sahibzada Abul Khair; Muhammad Zubair of the JUP; Qari Gul Rahman (JUI- S); Hamiduddin Al Mashriqi Khaksar; Ibtisam Elahi Zaheer of the JAH; Gen (retd)Hameed Gul, Roedad Khan, Lt-Gen (retd) Faiz Ali Chishti, Maj-Gen (retd)Zaheerul Islam, Hafiz Akif Tanzeem Islami and Muhammad Islam Khan, general-secretary, IJT Punjab.

In his speech, Maulana Fazlur Rahman criticised the government action against peaceful demonstrators in Islamabad on Sunday and accusedit of trying to appease the West by defusing the protests.

He alleged that acts of violence in Lahore and Peshawar were the handiwork of agencies.

Qazi Hussain said people would give their verdict on Feb 26 in Lahore against the government which had become a stooge of the US and the West.

He said that the government itself was minimising its days in power by blocking the way of the faithful to defend the reverence of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him)

He said there would be a wheel-jam strike on March 3 and efforts to make it an international protest day were under way.

Raja Zafarul Haq said that the young segment of the society was energetic and focussed on bringing about an Islamic revolution in the country and stressed the need for channelising the capabilities of the youth.

He said the government’s claim that it had blocked the Islamabad rally to avert a repetition of Lahore and Peshawar incidents was baseless because violence in the two cities were due to administrative indulgence and not planned by the organisers of the rallies.

Zafar Iqbal Jhagra of ARD supported the ongoing protest campaign and assured full backing of the alliance in all opposition programmes.

He called upon the leadership to fix its objectives before going for an all-out movement against the government.