October 06, 2008	Monday	Shawwal 06, 1429

LAHORE, Oct 5: The planned joint session of parliament is useless because decisions are being taken outside parliament, says a religious leader.

The joint session is an “exercise in futility” if the government has to take future decisions under the US pressure, Jamiat Ahl-i-Hadith chief Prof Sajid Mir told reporters here on Sunday after a meeting on the two-day All Pakistan Ahl-i-Hadith Conference being held at Minar-i-Pakistan from Nov 7.

Mir said the government was losing people’s trust by violating the mandate it was given on Feb 18. He said parliament was powerless and abolition of 58(2)b and 17th Amendment had been delayed.

He said India, the US and Afghanistan were conspiring against Pakistan. The government was ‘fanning’ the fire in Fata to provide justification for the US intervention.

HAFIZ SAEED: Jamaat-ud-Dawaa chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed has said political and military leadership should not remain silent over an agreement under which India will send 150,000 troops to Afghanistan.

Talking to Jamaat leaders here on Sunday, he said India, the US and Israel were trying to build pressure on the Afghan border to harm Pakistan.

Those trying to strengthen friendship with India by sidelining the Kashmir issue should realise the threat from deployment of Indian troops in Afghanistan.

He said the US wanted to use the Indian troops in Afghanistan against Pakistan. He said the US was shedding the blood of “innocent Muslims” through missile attacks in Waziristan and other tribal areas.