KARACHI, Jan 20: The people and the armed forces are one and fully prepared to meet the Indian challenge and prove themselves a cast-iron wall against any misadventure.

Likewise, the people and religious parties will not allow secular and atheist forces to stamp out the country’s Islamic identity as Pakistan was created in the name of Islam after Muslims of the subcontinent rendered unprecedented sacrifices.

This was the consensus of the speeches delivered at the “Defence of Pakistan Conference” held at Karachi Press Club on Sunday under the auspices of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, an alliance of different religious parties.

Presided over by its chief Allama Shah Ahmad Noorani, the conference rejected the electoral reforms announced by President Gen Pervez Musharraf and accused him of changing, under US pressure, his stance that there was a clear distinction between Jihad in Kashmir and terrorism.

The speakers announced their resolve to launch a peaceful struggle against efforts to turn the country into a secular state.

Maulana Noorani said that religious parties would not allow conspiracies of the enemies of Islam to succeed and would ensure the country’s Islamic identity was maintained.

Referring to the situation in Afghanistan, he said that a propaganda had been unleashed against religious parties that they sent people to Afghanistan to be killed there, which was contrary to the facts as those who had given their lives for the sake of Islam were all martyrs.

He pointed out that Pakistanis had not gone to Afghanistan just during the past few months but had been going there since 1980s under the patronage of the governments. As such all the regimes that remained in power over the past two decades stood guilty.

Maulana Noorani said that religious parties accepted responsibility of sending people to Afghanistan for Jihad and asked what punishment the government had fixed for those responsible for killing hundreds of people on ethnic and regional grounds.

He said according to the Quran, Jews and Christians could never be our friends and those describing the US, Jews and Christians as friends had been striving to misguide the Ummah.

Syed Munawwar Hasan, acting chief of Jamaat-i-Islami, said that people and the army were two sides of a coin and could not be made to confront each other. The conspiracy to drive a wedge between them had been hatched by the US and India. He said the president in his address to the nation talked against Madaris without providing them an opportunity to present their point of view, and even banned the use of loudspeakers.

He said that MMA had announced to hold peaceful gatherings and launch a movement but the government banned it. However, they would continue their mass contact.

Hafiz Hussain Ahmad, acting secretary general of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, said that Pakistan was facing the worst crisis of its 53-year history due to threats to its stability and security. The future of Kashmir was at stake as the US had been attempting to create another Israel in the region but the nation would nip this conspiracy in the bud.

Recalling that yesterday when the Kashmir issue was there, the rulers talked about first Pakistan and the Us was backed against Muslims of Afghanistan and

He said now that the Kashmir issue was on the front burner, people were being asked to think first about Pakistan. He said they did not want a confrontation with the government at this critical juncture which called for complete unity and harmony.

Allama Arshad Zahid of Jamiat Ahle Hadith, said that all Muslims were brothers and would prove an impregnable force against forces of infidels.

Mufti Usman Yar Khan of Sawad-i-Azam Ahle Sunnat said that Pakistan would remain incomplete without its Islamic identity.