KARACHI, Sept 4: Chief of his own wing of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, Senator Maulana Samiul Haq, has stressed the need to liberate the country and the army from foreign domination and as such Pakistan’s immediate requirement was ‘Charter of Freedom’ instead of ‘Charter of Democracy’.

He said that the opposition should launch a movement to build pressure on the government to get the country rid off from foreign hegemony.

Samiul Haq was speaking as the guest speaker at “Meet the Press” programme of Karachi Press Club on Monday. He referred to the crisis brewing in Balochistan and held the government responsible for it.

He regretted that sincere efforts were not made to resolve the issue. He pointed out that he himself was one of the members of the parliamentary party formed to find out the solution of Balchistan issue. The committee after its five-month deliberations had agreed on 30 out of 32 points but before taking up the remaining two points suddenly Mushaid Hussain Syed and Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain left for Balochistan for negotiations with Baloch leaders. What they had discussed in their meetings its contents were never revealed to the committee, he added.

He expressed apprehension that Balochistan movement could turn into anti-Pakistan movement and asked the opposition parties and the government to play their role so that history of East Pakistan might not repeat.

He urged the government to implement the recommendations of the parliamentary party on Balochistan to remove sense of deprivation of Baloch people.

He asked the opposition parties to stage a sit-in at Dera Bugti as an expression of solidarity with the people of Balochistan.

Samiul Haq said that Nawab Bugti was whether cruel or a rebel Sardar, the issue should have been taken to the parliament and the judicial forum to place the facts before the nation. He said that the issue could have been resolved by initiating dialogues on the negotiation table. He did not approve the unilateral action which, he said, was contrary to the national interests and deserved condemnation.

In reply to a question, he said that he was hearing about resigning of the opposition members from the senate and assemblies from a number of years but this opportunity would not come as there were differences among the opposition on the issue. Even there were differences in the two main parties of MMA because Maulana Fazlur Rehman did not subscribe to the idea of Qazi Hussain Ahmad. He said in fact the two provincial governments in the NWFP and Balochistan had become fetters for the MMA.

Maulana Samiul Haq, who had left the six-party alliance, said he had tried to make the alliance meaningful by protesting over the situation in the alliance for two years. However, he added, he parted ways from the MMA when it failed to play any role despite having 70 MNAs, 23 senators and 80 MPAs.