QUETTA, Aug 12: The Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, on Friday invited Western powers to open dialogue with the “true representatives of Islamic forces” in order to “peacefully resolve” their disputes with them.

Speaking at the Nifaz-i-Shariat conference for Tahafuz-i-Madaris in the Sadiq Shaheed football ground, Maulana Fazl said that resistance movements could not be suppressed by force.

“We are ready for talks with Western powers, including America, to resolve contentious issues with America and European Union states and restore peace at the international level,” he said.

He said the US government must recognise the fact that “Islamic movements cannot be crushed through the use of hi-tech weapons. The best way to settle issues is to initiate dialogue with the real parties in the conflict”.

“By initiating talks with us, America would be able to settle the conflict. Cooperation between us and America would be better for the world community. Islamic states would benefit as they would able to use Western technology for exploration of their resources,” he said.

But the opposition leader made it clear that the US administration would have to accept Pakistan’s independence and respect its constitution and parliament if it wanted to resolve contentious issues.

He accused President Musharraf of deceiving the United States and Western powers by playing the role of a middle man to eliminate Islamic forces in the region. “Musharraf’s hue and cry against the Ulema is merely a tactic to remain in power through the backing of the US administration,” he said.

Maulana Fazl called upon the administrators of religious schools to resist attempts by the government to expel its foreign students.

“ If America and Britain did not expel the foreigners studying in their religious institutions after the 9/11 and 7/7 bombing incidents, then one cannot understand why President Musharraf is in hurry to oust foreigners from Pakistan?” he asked.

Maulana Fazl ruled out any change in the syllabus of madressahs and asked the government to desist from interfering in the internal affairs of religious institutions.

“If the government is interested in expelling foreign students, then the campaign must first begin from government-run universities and professional colleges.”

Speaking on the registration of madressahs, he said that religious parties were ready to accept registration under the 1860 Societies Act and madressah administrators had already applied for the same but the bureaucracy was obstructing the process.

He said the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal alliance was ready to cooperate with the ruling party and adopt legislation for the purpose of tackling the issue of using loudspeakers in mosques. However, he cautioned that any unilateral decision in this regard would be resisted.

Other MMA leaders such as Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Hafiz Hussain Ahmed also spoke on the occasion.

TRAINING CAMP: The MMA’s central deputy secretary Hafiz Hussain Ahmed told the Nifaz-i-Shariat conference Friday that Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed had received money from Arab states to establish a training camp for Kashmir freedom fighters and offered to quit his seat in the National Assembly if his allegation was proved wrong.