He saw “no tangible evidence to show” that this war was an extension of the war against terrorism, and said the Pakistani people and the PPP would support the Iraqi people in what he called their fight for national sovereignty, fundamental rights and the principle that might is not right.

“The war in Iraq is essentially a war of economic interests,” he said, adding that the invading countries were seeking to control oil resources and benefit their multinational companies in the so-called reconstruction of Iraq in the future.

Veteran jurist S.M. Zafar of the PML-Q said the fight between “two unequals” was a “ruthless military operation” in Iraq rather than a war and called for the use of mass movements to counter such resort to unilateralism in defiance of the United Nations.

He said the use of the “fictitious doctrine” of preemption by the allied powers to attack Iraq instead of dialogue would help radicalism and spiral violence. He called for Pakistan to side with the forces standing for the rule of law and take a firm stand for the territorial integrity of Iraq and sovereignty of its people.

He complimented Pope John Paul for what he called burying the concept of clash of civilizations by praying for the victims of the invasion in Iraq.

Maulana Noorani accused President George W. Bush of starting the war on what he called “the basis of his faith” and to help realise the dream of a greater Israel encompassing the area from the Suez canal in Egypt to the Euphrates river in Iraq.

He said he feared Mr Bush would at some stage include Pakistan in his so-called “axis of evil” that now refers to Iraq, Iran and North Korea.

Mr Noorani described Iraqis fighting to defend “the land of prophets” as “Mujahid” like Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden and said the planned joint opposition-government resolution must call for a halt to the war and the Pakistani government should also clarify whether or not it had allowed the US forces to use any of its air bases for operations against Iraq.

Former finance minister Ishaq Dar of PML-N said he feared President Bush’s administration would meet its nearly $75 billion war budget from Iraq’s oil resources in the same way as Washington “plundered” the Gulf states’ wealth following the 1991 Gulf War.

He foresaw “very bad” economic consequences of the Iraq war for Pakistan and urged the government to prepare a comprehensive strategy in consultation with opposition parties to face the situation.

Mr Dar warned the government against side-stepping the planned joint resolution against the Iraq war as was done in an opposition-called National Assembly session earlier this month and said a consensus on the draft could be evolved through a give-and-take over its wording.

Sanaullah Baloch of the Balochistan National Party held President Saddam Hussein’s policies responsible for the present crisis. He also condemned the US-British aggression against Iraq.

“We condemn all sorts of aggressions...whether against law or Constitution,” he said, referring to President Saddam’s alleged excesses on his own people, particularly on the ethnic Kurdish minority community living in the north of the country, and periods of military rule in Pakistan.

He said repression of people’s aspirations could result in situations like those faced by Iraq and former Yugoslavia.

Dr Nighat Agha of the PML-Q described the US-British invasion as worse than the plunder of Baghdad by the forces of Mongol warrior Halaku Khan because he said the Mongols had come with the declared objective of conquest rather than on false pretexts.

He said Pakistan must take a stand for penalising even big powers for flouting the United Nations.

Abbas Komaili of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement said condemnation of President Bush’s designs must be accompanied with an exposure of President Saddam’s “crimes”, whom he accused of being a “rebel of Islam” responsible for the killing of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi people, including his opponents.

But he said the Iraqi people were now engaged in a Jihad and would not run away being the followers of “Ahle Najaf and Ahle Karbala.”

Dr Shezad Waseem of the PML-Q said there was no basic difference between the government and the opposition over the Iraq war and urged the opposition parties to show the same understanding outside the house as seen in the current debate.

He said Pakistan should also look towards the post-war scenario, forge closer ties with anti-war countries such as China, Russia and Iran and set up a committee of parliament members and non-governmental organizations to see what humanitarian help could be provided to the Iraqi people.

Ilyas Ahmed Bilour of the Awami National Party compared the “barbaric bombardment” on Iraq with the martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA) more than 13 centuries ago.

He said the US would not have been able to do this to Iraq if the Soviet Union had not collapsed in 1991. “We support the Iraqi people, not Saddam,” he said.

SMOOTH SAILING: Amidst an understanding between the two sides of the political divide to conduct the Iraq debate smoothly after some unusually stormy meetings of both houses of parliament in recent weeks, Mr Soomro seemed to have won some trust of the opposition parties for his apparent accommodation for them. But parliamentary sources said the real test of the former Sindh governor in running the upper house would come after the Iraq debate when the opposition parties would agitate against the LFO.