KARACHI, March 2: Religious leaders, speaking at the “Qaumi Ulema Wa Mashaikh Convention”, reminded the United States and its allies that the oppressed people of Iraq were not alone and declared that Muslims around the world with Iraq.

Allama Shah Ahmed Noorani, chief of Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan who presided over the concluding session of the convention on Sunday, said that not only Iraq, Pakistan was also under the US and its allies’ threat.

Ulema and Mashaikh from all over Sindh attended the convention which was held on Kashmir Road. Prominent among them were Allama Jamil Ahmad Naeemi, Dr Abul Khair Muhammad Zubair, Pir Attiqur Rehman, Allama Ghulam Muhammad Sayyalvi, Mufti Muneebur Rehman and Mufti Abdul Haleem Siddqui.

The speakers condemned the tyranny and oppression let loose on Muslims in Iraq, Kashmir, Palestine and other countries.

Allama Noorani lamented as misleading, the US propaganda that Iraqi leadership had never backed Pakistan in crucial moments.

He also criticized “the man sitting in London” for advising sarcastically the million march participants to go to Iraq. “For how long he would continue to

sow the seeds of differences among Muslims of Pakistan?” he asked.

The JUI leader stressed the need for Muslim rulers to wake up from slumber and collect courage to strike hard on the forces out to wipe out Muslims.

“We are confident that this century will prove to be the century of destruction of the United States... the world will see the dismemberment of the US,” he declared.

Calling upon the Ummah to forge unity in its ranks to combat the anti-Islam forces, he advised Ulema and Mashaikh to establish Islamic learning institutes at all the Khanqahs and Madaris attached with shrines around the country and produce practising and pious Muslims. He said that it was essential for the transformation of the society into a truly Islamic one.

The chief of Markazi Jamaat Ahle Sunnat, Pir Abdul Khaliq Bhurchandi Sharif, said this convention had proved that Sindh belonged to Ahle Sunnat where preachers of prejudice and ethnicity could find no place.

Mufti Muhammad Jan Naeemi said that in this period of trial and tribulations, only Ulema and Mashaikh were the last ray of hope for those willing to change the fate of the nation. He announced setting up of a committee with a task to settle differences and remove misunderstandings in order to create unity and harmony among Ahle Sunnat.

Allama Muhammad Nale Mitthu warned that by imposing war on Iraq, the US would be providing reasons for its own destruction.

Participants of the convention proceeded to the venue of the million march after the deliberations were over.