LAHORE, Jan 11: The Jamaat-e-Islami hoped that President Pervez Musharraf’s speech would not be an attempt to please US and India but to protect national interest that laid in replying Indian aggressive postures in the same coin.

This was stated by Prof Munawwar Hassan, caretaker amir of JI, while delivering his Friday sermon. “The president must realize that people of Pakistan are determined to reply Indian aggression that the government is trying to avoid. The rumours that president’s speech will be designed to please the US, UK and India are becoming credible because of crackdown on religious parties,” he said.

The government, he said, on instruction of the US had unleashed a massive propaganda campaign against the religious parties without realizing that America had been patronizing the same for last 15 years to supplement its Afghan policy. “Blindly following of the US desire has led Pakistan into a diplomatic isolation. Any attempt to take U-turn may not be as easy as the government has been thinking and trying,” he added.