June 18, 2006	Sunday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 21, 1427

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NAWABSHAH, June 17: Jamaat-i-Islami secretary-general Syed Munawar Hassan has said that Pakistan is fighting war of the United States in the region and antagonising old friends.

Talking to newsmen in the press club here on Friday night, he said the government was killing innocent people in Bajaur Agency and Waziristan, claiming that foreigners were being killed. The foreign policy of Islamabad was pro-US, he added.

He alleged that the government was establishing cantonments in Balochistan for providing logistic support to the US against Iran, which was a cruel exercise.

The Jamaat office-bearer said the people of Balochistan were innocent; they had not killed the Chinese engineers.

He said two committees had been formed to help resolve the issue of Balochistan, but no reports had been presented in parliament. He demanded withdrawal of army from Balochistan to make the area peaceful.

Mr Munawar said Afghanistan had been a friend of Pakistan, but due to what he termed Islamabad’s failed policies, it was inclining towards India.

He said Pakistan was talking with India on CBMs for two years, but so far no benefit had come out of the discussions as India was still claiming Kashmir its integral part.

The Jamaat leader said innocent people were being killed, women were being raped and custodial killings were on the rise in Kashmir.

He said Iran was a neighbouring country and friend of Pakistan, but Islamabad was treating it with lukewarm attitude.

The army had failed, he said and warned that if it remained in politics, the people would change their attitude towards it.

He said it was the need of the hour that Pakistan, China and other Asian states should form a an alliance against the United States.

Criticising the budget speech of state minister of finance, he claimed that the state minister for finance had been unaware of what he had read in the National Assembly, as he had been asked just to read it.