August 20, 2007	Monday	Sha’aban 6, 1428

MARDAN, Aug 19: Jamaat-i-Islami general-secretary Syed Munawar Hassan has said that American interference in Pakistan’s internal affairs is increasing by the day, which is compounding crises facing the country.

Mr Hassan was speaking at a three-day training camp of JI workers at the Iqra School in Par Hoti here on Sunday.

He said that any effort by Gen Musharraf to get elected in uniform from the existing assemblies would deepen the constitutional crisis.

He said the All-Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) would resist Musharraf’s bid for re-election, adding that the armed forces should go back to their barracks and stop interfering in the government’s affairs.

He said the landmark decision by the Supreme Court in the Chief Justice case had filled the people with hope that any attempt by the president to get re-elected in uniform from the existing assemblies would be foiled by the apex court.

The JI leader said the Pakistan-Afghanistan joint jirga was a futile exercise because it excluded one of the most important parties in the conflict, the Taliban.

He said peace could not be restored to Afghanistan until US and Nato forces withdrew from the war-torn country.