MANSEHRA, May 9: Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, said on Monday that the military rulers were weakening the ideological basis of the country at the behest of Western powers by ridiculing Islamic values and religious parties. Speaking at the Nifaz-i-Shariat conference at Zaffar ground here, he said the imperialist and anti-Islamic forces had aggressive designs against the Ummah and the rulers of almost all the Muslim states had joined hands with them in their nefarious designs.

He said the religious leaders had formed the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal to meet the challenge.

He said the real face of the so-called champions of human rights had been exposed by their cruelty to the prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said now Iran was being threatened but the designs of the aggressors would not succeed any more.

He said Iraq and Afghanistan could not be called independent because the United States had imposed rulers on those countries against the will of their people.

He said the martyrs of Balakot were heroes of the independence movement but they were portrayed as terrorists in the US and Europe. He said the rulers were under pressure from the US to delete the names of heroes of the independence movement from the syllabus.

He said the cartoon published in an American newspaper after the arrest of Al Qaeda suspect Abu Faraj should open the eyes of the rulers.

He criticized the concept of enlightened moderation.

The MMA leader claimed that the law and order situation in the NWFP was better than that in other provinces.

He said the Shariah Bill had been passed by the NWFP Assembly and soon the Hisba Bill would also be tabled in the house.

He alleged that the rulers were delaying the local government election because they apprehended a landslide victory of MMA candidates.

The conference was attended by a large number of students of seminaries.