May 24, 2008	Saturday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 18, 1429

ISLAMABAD, May 23: Jamaat-i-Islami Naib Amir Senator Prof Khurshid Ahmed has expressed his concerns over what he termed repeated American feelers that the next 9/11 might come from Fata.

“There seems to be a calculated effort to blackmail Pakistan and coerce it to continue the slavish policies pursued by President Pervez Musharraf,” Prof Khurshid said in a statement on Friday.

“People of Pakistan have given their verdict in clear terms on February 18 and they are not alone as the entire Muslim Ummah and a vast majority of people of the third world have rejected the legitimacy and usefulness of the US-led war on terror.”

He said the present government had no option but to review Musharraf’s policies. “While maintaining good relations with America, we must pursue a policy that is in the strategic interests of Pakistan.”

The American leadership, Prof Khurshid said, should also review its own policy of military solution and destruction of the alleged adversary. “This policy has totally failed in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. Complex political problems cannot be solved by blind use of brute force.”

The JI leader said that time had come for Pakistan to de-link its policies from the US strategy so as to bring a durable peace to tribal areas. This was possible only through political dialogue, understanding and mutually agreed package of reforms, he added.