HYDERABAD, Jan 4: The members of Hyderabad District Council (HDC) here on Friday backed President Pervez Musharraf at this crucial juncture and said armed forces of the country were ready to give a matching reply to India if it crossed Line of Control and committed aggression against Pakistan.

Condemning in strongest possible terms the war hysteria created by India and its electronic media, the elected members observed that India should not consider Pakistan as Afghanistan or Palestine.

The members said that the district administration must adopt precautionary measures in advance regarding fire brigade, hospitals and other emergency services.

The house was opened for debate in the wake of two separate and identical resolutions tabled by Abdul Qadeer Qazi and Yousuf Qureshi. The resolutions said that the session condemned the Indian war hysteria, adding that Pakistani nation was united under the leadership of President Musharraf.

It said that Pakistan did not believe in war and it always backed peace initiatives but the country should not be under-estimated as the armed forces were in state of preparedness to face any challenge by the enemy.

The resolution demanded that the Indian government should stop committing brutalities against unarmed Kashmiris who should be allowed to exercise their right of self-determination as guaranteed by the United Nations’ resolutions.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Irfan Gul Magsi said that our political parties should forget their petty differences and support the government at this critical juncture as had been done by their Indian counterparts.

Rana Mehmood Ali Khan said that the government should unconditionally release Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Makhdoom Javed Hashmi and Asif Ali Zardari.

He said that even in India some of the politicians had disagreed with the BJP government policy of war mongering and advocated the adaption of diplomatic channels to sort out every issue.

The minority members, M. Parkash and Deewan Kanahya Lal, also condemned Indian war hysteria and said that the minorities were with their Muslim brothers in this hour of trial.

Dr Najib Memon and Meeran Mohammad Shah said that Pakistan did not believe in war and every issue must be resolved through negotiations.

Hussain Bukhsh Hussaini, Babu Ramzan Arain, Farheen Mughal, Shahnawaz Baqri, Saleem Khanzada, Mir Mansoor Talpur, Abdul Kareem Talpur, and others also spoke on the occasion.

The session was presided over by the convener and Naib Nazim, HDC, Nawab Rashid Ali Khan who had to ask the members on several occasions to be serious as Saira Naseer and Abdul Majid Wahidi appeared non-serious when speeches were being delivered.