LARKANA: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman has urged the United Nations Security Council and other international organisations to ask India why it has imposed war — that can prove harmful for the entire region — on Pakistan.

The maulana said at a press conference at Larkana Press Club here on Wednesday that Indian aggression was a war crime as the country violated the Line of Control on the pretext of unfounded claims of Pakistan’s involvement in Pulwama incident. India should have provided proof of the incident instead of imposing war, which was an irresponsible act, he said.

He said that Indian war hysteria was inexplicable at best as one could not understand what the Modi government could achieve by stoking war in the region. “Though we are confronting domestic, political and economic problems and our foreign policy is heading for failure we have complete confidence in Pakistan army and it is our first priority,” he said.

As a mark of solidarity with Pakistan army his party would stage protests across the country on Friday and appealed to all religious and political parties to participate in peaceful demonstrations in large numbers, he said.

He urged all political and religious parties to participate in processions, protests and demonstrations and assured Pakistan army that the nation stood by it.

The maulana said in answer to a question about invitation to Indian external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj to the meeting of Organisa­tion of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) that OIC was an ineffective forum which carried no weight.

He said that India did not qualify to be an Islamic country while Pakistan was a large Muslim nation. It was right decision to boycott the OIC’s emergency meeting, he said, adding that war was fire that burned everything to ashes.

He said that Kashmir was a disputed issue and Pakistan had always welcomed international arbitration for settling it but India resisted such attempts. “Our stand about weaker role of international organisations in helping settle Kashmir dispute is still unchan­ged,” he said.

He said that India got the answer when Pakistan established its defence capability by downing two Indian warplanes. And now, he said, India would have to retreat.

Asked if the government should send delegations to leading nations to muster support for its stand, the maulana said that they could only wish for it but the question was whether present rulers had the capacity to effectively advocate the country’s case.

About JUI-F’s planned ‘million march’ under obtaining conditions, he said Thursday’s march would be held as per schedule but its objective would now be expressing solidarity with defence institutions.

The JUI-F head accompanied by Maulana Rashid Mehmood Soo­mro, the party’s provincial general secretary, and other leaders later visited the press club’s library and announced donating books to it.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2019