KARACHI, Jan 5: The President of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and Amir Jamaat-i-Islami, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, has claimed that forces of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have come to Pakistan to take control over the country’s nuclear assets.

NATO forces have nothing to do with relief operation being carried out in the NWFP and Azad Kashmir, he said, adding that they had only came to Pakistan to fulfil US interests.

Qazi said this in his keynote address at a seminar on “Rehabilitation of Earthquake Affectees” at local hotel.

It was also addressed by the Iranian Consul General, Syed Moosa Hussaini, renowned economist Dr Shahid Hassan Siddiqui, writer and columnist Shahnawaz Farooqui, Dr Saad Khalid Niaz, Dr Ghazala Aziz, Engineers Mushtaq Dawood and Adnan Asdar.

Organized by the Society for Research and Dialogue, the seminar was attended by a large number of people from different walks of life.

The MMA chief said the entire Muslim Ummah was helping and supporting the victims of quake-hit areas.

A large number of volunteers from Muslim countries were taking part in relief works, he said, but deplored that the US and Western countries were still searching for the presence of Al-Qaeeda in the quake-affected areas under the garb of relief work.

He also accused the government of keeping the entire nation in the dark about the relief operation.

Qazi announced that the JI would constitute a rescue team comprising 1,000 volunteers for carrying out rescue operations in the instance of any emergency or natural catastrophe.

The Iranian Consul General, Syed Moosa Hussaini, appreciated the role of JI in relief operations carried out in the quake-hit areas.

He said Iran assured Pakistan of complete cooperation and support in times of need, adding that his country had given US$200 million in the recent donors’ conference.

Dr Shahid Hasan Siddiqui criticized donor countries saying that out of the promised US$5.8 billion in the recent donors’ conference US$3.9 billion were given as loans. He demanded the government to reject such loans.

Shahnawaz Farooqui deplored the fact that a disaster management centre could not be established in the country after a lapse of 58 years.—PPI