KARACHI, Oct 23: Fifteen days since the launching of the air strikes on Afghanistan, all claims of targeting training camps and military installations clearly negates the US assertion to destroy the military targets, general secretary of Jamaat-i- Islami, Syed Munawar Hasan, said while addressing the party workers at Empress Market here on Thursday.

“Thousands of innocent Afghans have been killed in the current air strikes, which clearly reflects that the war is not against terrorism as claimed earlier, but against Islam,” he added.

He said that the US policies about South Asian countries had always backfired, drawing strong opposition from Iran, Afghanistan and even Pakistan.

The president had acknowledged that 15 per cent of the people were against the US policy, which meant more than 150 million. “If the government is still persisting that 85 per cent of the people are backing the government, it should hold a referendum without any delay, which will testify the government’s support among the masses,” he remarked.

Munawar Hasan said that the current conflict was not a clash of civilizations but a clash of faiths. He said America should learn a lesson from the experience of the former USSR.

He urged Muslim countries not to send their troops in Afghanistan under the garb of US allies as, according to him, America would never use its army in Afghanistan and would prefer the Muslim troops to carry out its designs.

Criticizing the ban on entry of Qazi Hussain Ahmed in Sindh he asked the government on what grounds they had imposed the restriction.—PPI