December 10, 2006	Sunday	Ziqa'ad 18, 1427

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PESHAWAR, Dec 9: Opposition leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said that President Gen Pervez Musharraf is trying to misguide the US and the European countries by spreading disinformation about the country’s religious parties.

Addressing a seminar at the Peshawar Press Club on Saturday, he said that after the adoption of the Protection of Women Bill, the government was likely to amend the blasphemy and Tahaffuz Namoos-Risalat laws and to introduce in the parliament a bill for the protection of minorities.

Majlis-i-Feqhi, NWFP -- a think-tank of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazlur Rehman) -- had organised the seminar to seek the experts’ opinion on the Protection of Women Act.

Maulana Fazl claimed that the bill would promote indecency and the government was trying to use it as a political tool. Gen Musharraf is using it (the adoption of the law) to gain political advantage and also deceiving the West by adopting such measures, he said.

Gen Musharraf was trying to ensure his continued rule, although he had failed to achieve his goals. Maulana Fazl said the State Bank’s annual report had exposed the government’s claims regarding economic prosperity and foreign investment.

Quoting the report, he said that inflation had increased in the country and the literacy rate had declined while trade deficit had also climbed.

According to him, Gen Musharraf had failed to gain the support of democratic countries and was using derogatory language to deceive the international community.

He claimed that the Protection of Women Act was aimed at secularising the country, adding that Gen Musharraf and his supporters otherwise had nothing to do with women’s rights.

Maulana Fazl criticised the media’s role in this regard and said the print and electronic media had not presented a balanced view on the new law.

He said that only did the government control the state-run media but also the privately run ones.

He claimed that a media group had been paid millions of dollars to promote views against the Hudood laws before the introduction of the Protection of Women Bill in the parliament. He was of the opinion that instead of adopting new bills, the government should adopt laws to curb discrimination against women and give them the right to inheritance.

Maulana Fazl denounced Gen Musharraf's remarks against the MMA government in the NWFP and asked him to use proper language.

He said the president had

dishonoured the people of the Frontier province by issuing statements against their representatives.

He alleged that the federal government and its agencies were behind bomb explosions taking place in the province.