LAHORE: May 12: Jamaat-i-Islami chief Syed Munawwar Hasan on Saturday came hard on the US for reportedly teaching US army personnel anti-Islamic literature and setting their mind for attacking Muslims’ holy cities of Makkah and Medina.

In a statement issued here, he said the announcement from former US president Bush to initiate a campaign against the Muslim countries was not merely a slip of tongue.

“In fact, the US had declared a ‘crusade’ against the Muslims at the very moment when it attacked Afghanistan,” he said.

He said the US had invaded Iraq and Afghanistan deliberately and killed hundreds of thousands of innocent Muslims and now it planned to besiege Pakistan.

Hasan said now the time had come that Muslim rulers must realise the situation that the US was never their friend and would never be in future as well. He said the JI on the very first day warned the rulers that Nato alliance was against the Muslims and had been created for the vested interests of the West, but Musharraf surrendered to the US only for dollars.

He warned if the government did not withdraw from the war on terror, it would be presumed that it was against the nation as well as the entire Muslims of the world.

He emphasised the need for holding an OIC session so that the Muslim rulers could chalk out a strategy to counter the challenges jointly.

DEMAND: JI Secretary-General Liaqat Baloch has demanded the culprits of the May 12, 2007, Karachi carnage must be brought to justice.

In a statement, he deplored the rulers for doing nothing in this regard.