February 20, 2007	Tuesday	Safar 2, 1428

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ISLAMABAD, Feb 19: In a sharp contradiction to the government’s stand on the war on terror, a federal minister Monday said that the so-called war on terror was against humanity.

Speaking at a national interfaith religious seminar on HIV/AIDS here, Federal Minister for Health Naseer Ahmad Khan said that the war on terror had become a war of terror now. He said a war was always fought between two forces. “Where is the army on the other side in this case,” he questioned and said, “We only see bodies of innocent people, including children and women, as a result of the war.”

The minister regretted that the victims of “the war on terror” were 100 per cent Muslim states. Observing that the world had become lawless, he stressed that every state should remain confined to its own geographical boundaries. He said defence should be number one priority of the Islamic countries, as Islam had laid emphasis on maintaining a strong defence.

“It is our responsibility to protect our people. The nations which fail to protect themselves eliminate from the map of the world,” he remarked. He stressed the need for unity in the ranks of the Islamic world and said a strict adherence to Islamic injunctions was the only way to salvation.

He said Pakistan had emerged on the map of the world on the basis of religion adding that Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah wanted the people of Pakistan to live in accordance with the tenets of Islam. He said the West had misinterpreted jihad. “It is not all about playing with weapons. There can be a jihad against illiteracy, poverty and diseases as well,” he remarked.

He asked the ulema to play an active role in preventing the spread of the deadly HIV/AIDS. He said there was need to educate the people on what HIV/AIDS was and what measures could be adopted to prevent its spread.

He urged the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UNAIDS to finance the wonderful work being done by ulema to prevent HIV/AIDS. He said the government was taking a number of steps to create awareness among the people of HIV/AIDS. He said the women parliamentarians and elected representatives at all levels should also be involved in the process of creating public awareness of HIV/AIDS.

Naseer Khan said though prevalence of AIDS was low in Pakistan compared to many other countries, there was need to continue struggle against it.

He said the number of those suffering from AIDS in Pakistan was somewhere around 80,000 as against five million in India. He said the deadly disease claimed one life every two minutes in South Africa.

Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Ejazul Haq said active steps should be taken to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS to save the posterity. He said ulema could play a significant role in it, as people listen to them and act on what was told to them by the ulema.