HYDERABAD: Majlis-i-Wah­datul Muslimeen (MWM) has warned that the United States may try to undermine Pakistan socio-economically and politically by fanning sectarianism in the country.

MWM secretary general Allama Raja Nasir Abbas Jafri said at a press conference at local press club on Wednesday that America wanted to destabilise the entire region and contain China.

He said that Pakistan badly needed stability because of its geopolitical position as balance of power was reorienting from west to east and new regions and powerful countries would emerge in the course of this shift of power.

He appreciated the prime minister’s resolve that Pakistan would never recognise Israel though the country was still under pressure from Arab countries and Western powers to accept the Zionist state.

But it could never happen because people would not accept it and Pakistan’s own case on Indian-occupied Kashmir would get weakened by doing so and it would be tantamount to justifying the Indian occupation, he said.

He said that Pakistan was a sovereign state and hoped the country would take decisions independently of any external influence. If any government tried to recognise Israel it would be ousted by masses because a democratic government was always answerable to people.

He said that Jordan and Egypt had recognised Israel but today both the countries were mired in crises. Even UAE which accepted it recently had started facing troubles.

A nuclear-armed Pakistan did not suit Israel or America and people remembered the bloodstained history of Israel in the backdrop of massacre of Palestinians in Sabra and Shatila camps, he said.

He said that Pakistan had greater geopolitical significance in the region as it was a junction of five important countries. The shift of power from west to east would lead to emergence of new and powerful regions and countries but as last-ditch effort to reclaim its fast-waning status of superpower the US wanted to destabilise Asia.

He said that Asia deserved to get benefit from this shift of power. China would emerge as a powerful country and the US could not get its hegemony back. Russia, Iran and Turkey could constitute a strong bloc, he said.

He said that the US was now devouring itself due to its over-expansionist designs. The US was now faced with various issues and even its people had shown a different attitude towards their government, he said, adding that in this situation Pakistan badly needed stability as instability could lead to crisis in the country and affect China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Pakistan needed peace in all spheres of life and every individual regardless of the fact he was Shia, Sunni, Muslim or non-Muslim was to be treated as a true Pakistani.

He believed that Pakistan should be for all and not for any particular sect. Pakistan today faced a difficult situation and it could not afford a crisis like the one witnessed in Iran, Syria, Libya or Iraq, he warned.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2020