ISLAMABAD, June 10: The Defence Council of Pakistan and Afghanistan on Monday called upon all the political forces to mobilise public opinion for preparation to defend the country’s solidarity and to rid it of external domination.

The demand was made by a day-long conference titled “National solidarity conference for defence of Pakistan and struggle of Kashmir.”

DCPA Chairman Maulana Samiul Haq presided over the conference which was addressed, among others, by Raja Zafarul Haq of Pakistan Muslim League, Amir Khan of Muhajir Qaumi Movement, Mirza Aslam Baig of Awami Qiadat Party, Ghulam Mohammad Safi of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Millat Party Secretary-General Mohammad Ali Durrani. Nisar Mohammad Khan of PML (Quaid-i-Azam), Rao Javed Ali of People’s Democratic Party, Abdur Rashid Turabi of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Jamaat-i-Islami, Maulana Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai, Hafiz Abdur Rahman Makki of Jamaat Dawa, Hameed Gul and Zaheerul Islam Abbasi also spoke.

JI chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Jamiat Ulema Islam (F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman were absent while Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani of Jamiat Ulema Pakistan was abroad and Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan of Alliance for Restoration of Democracy was indisposed.

A declaration adopted unanimously at the end of the conference, attended by 23 parties, demanded that the government should demonstrate steadfastness on the principled stand on the right to self-determination for the people of Kashmir and solution of the issue according to United Nations resolutions.

It observed that “Jihad” was a religious duty of every Muslim which no international force could banish and stated that if it was done it would be presumed as interference in the religion.

It called upon the government to declare Jihad in case of Indian attack so that the nation could play its role alongside the army.

The conference demanded an immediate halt to the cooperation with the United States on Afghanistan, elimination of American bases from Pakistan and ridding the country of US slavery.

It condemned arrest of eminent Kashmir leader Syed Ali Geelani and others under Prevention of Terrorism Act and supported the general strike call by APHC in occupied Kashmir.

It demanded immediate release of the supporters of Kashmiri Mujahidin, including Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and Maulana Masood Azhar, and asked the government to refrain from taking steps to appease the enemy in future.

The meeting demanded that all the Mujahideen returned from Afghanistan be released.

Earlier, the speakers said that Kashmir’s freedom struggle was indigenous and it could not be suppressed by steps of military regime as 700,000 Indian troops had failed to control it. They warned against surrender on Kashmir cause which, they claimed, could be detrimental to the existence of Pakistan.

Kashmir had never been a part of India, which had promised in the UN to decide its fate through a plebiscite, they said. It was for the world human rights activists to take notice of Indian atrocities on Kashmiri people, they lamented.

They viewed with concern the equation of Kashmir’s freedom struggle with terrorism and asked the government not to go back from its earlier stand on the Kashmiri movement.

They were of the view that the total surrender by President Gen Musharraf on a telephone call by US President Bush was the first blunder which only a military ruler was expected to make as a civilian government’s head would have taken some time and he would have felt answerable to the people.

They said that though army was capable to respond to the enemy’s might, a strong national support behind any army was a prerequisite for facing the aggression with success.

They cautioned that the Jihadi forces were natural allies of the army, who should neither be weakened nor alienated lest the country’s integrity was put into jeopardy.

They warned that any attempt to create differences between the army and the religious forces would only please the enemy and the restraint shown by the religious leadership in face of intimidation by the regime was in the best interest of the nation.

The leader of a banned Kashmiri outfit said those who had surrendered on Afghanistan in the name of saving Pakistan were seemingly ready to surrender Kashmir on the same pretext.