ISLAMABAD, March 17: Amir of Jamaat-i-Islami Qazi Hussain Ahmad on Wednesday said the government was pursuing the American agenda to secularize the country by making changes in the curricula. He was speaking at a protest demonstration organized by the Islami Jamiat-i-Tulaba (IJT) in front of the Parliament House to protest against the deletion of the Quranic verses from the curricula.

"Everyone knows what are the motives behind the government's ongoing campaign to make Pakistan a secular state by making changes in the curricula at school and college level," he said.

Qazi said Pakistan was an ideological state and was created in the name of Islam and nobody would be allowed to alter its ideological basis. "We will fight at every level, be it the floors of the National Assembly and the Senate or on the roads and will not allow the so-called enlightened community at the helm to play with the ideology of the country," he said.

He also appreciated the IJT for its timely reaction to what he called a "serious issue" and assured his full support in this regard. Members of the National Assembly Mohammad Hanif Abbasi, Mohammad Khan and Ahmad Ghafoor were also present on the occasion.

The IJT office-bearers criticized the government for the privatization of the educational institutions both at school and university level. They said the constitution of education boards like Agha Education Board in the private sector, with whom the government schools and colleges would be affiliated, was a step towards privatization of education.

They said the government was following the "Jewish lobby's" campaign to privatize the public sector education institutions. They said education sector remained one of the top priorities of the governments throughout the world, however, in Pakistan the things were moving in the opposite direction.