KARACHI, April 22: Senior Vice-President of Jamaat-i-Islami Prof Ghafoor Ahmad on Saturday accused the government of harbouring and protecting culprits of Nishtar Park blast.

He was addressing a news conference at the JI office, Idara Noor-i-Haq. Allama Hasan Turabi of the Islami Tehrik Pakistan, Maulana Khan Mohammad Rabbani of JUI, Qazi Ahmad Noorani of JUP and Mohammad Hussain Mahenti also addressed the newsmen.

The government’s flawed policies had been threatening the country’s very foundations, Prof Ghafoor said, adding that the regime had no respect for constitution and law.

He deplored that educational institutions in the city were deliberately being turned into slaughter houses under the alleged patronage of the regime, which had let loose its armed terrorists on students and teachers to attack and kill them for refusing to follow their dictates and hold different views.

He alleged that the attackers enjoyed protection and patronage of police, Rangers and secret agencies. He pointed out that after Nishtar Park incident, an armed group had resorted to scaling the walls of the Government Commerce College situated in the ‘high-security zone’ of the city and killed IJT’s Akmal Shirazi and injured Javed in a classroom.

He alleged that police personnel, who were posted inside the college premises, acted as silent spectator.

“The killers nominated by the IJT are roaming freely and may kill more IJT workers as they have no fear of law. It is not a new or unique incident as even the killers of Hakim Said, senior journalist Salahuddin, Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai, JI leaders Luqman Beg and Aslam Mujahid, and scores of IJT workers are still at large,” he added.

He said that the assassins of political and religious leaders and students could not be arrested despite having been nominated in the FIRs because the provincial government was directly involved in these cases and protecting and patronizing terrorists.

Prof Ghafoor said that the situation in Karachi, Balochistan and tribal areas had been deteriorating with every passing day as Pakistan was experiencing the worst kind of military dictatorship.

Prof Ghafoor said that General Pervez Musharraf had given his coalition partner in the Centre and Sindh a freehand to only to prolong his rule. He said that the general’s politics had put the country’s security and sovereignty into extreme danger.

“The country’s nuclear assets are also not safe in the hands of this government as it has detained nuclear scientists under US pressure, and if asked, it can also play the same role in a possible US attack on Iran as it had done in the case of Afghanistan,” the JI leader said.

In reply to a question, he said that Gen Musharraf was supposed to retire in October 2001 but he was still in power. He said that only a strong government, backed by people, could resist US pressure.

Allama Hasan Turabi claimed that the Nishtar Park explosion was not a suicide attack but it was being declared so to protect the culprits. He asked the government to invite foreign experts and investigators to ensure a credible probe into the incident, and called for an end to the conspiracies aimed at creating rifts among Muslims.