KARACHI, Dec 15: Jamaat-i-Islami deputy chief Prof Ghafoor Ahmed has said America wants to establish its rule over the world and it has become the biggest threat to world peace and human rights.

He warned that aggression against Iraq would be taken as an attack on the entire Muslim world and the Ummah, and he expressed concern over “assurance by Pakistan’s foreign minister to US in action against Iraq.”

He said the US was the only country in the world which had used nuclear bombs, so first of all its nuclear and chemical weapons should be destroyed.

Prof Ghafoor was speaking at a protest demonstration outside Binnori mosque on Sunday against the threat of US offensive on Iraq. The protest demonstration was held on the appeal of Qazi Husain Ahmed, the parliamentary party leader of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal in the National Assembly.

Others who spoke on the occasion were Hafiz Mohammed Taqi, Allama Hasan Turabi, Mufti Usman Yar Khan, Dr Mairajul Huda Siddiqui and Shaikh Rafique Ahmed.

The participants of the demonstration, carrying placards and banners, raised anti-US slogans.

Prof Ghafoor said after Afghanistan the US wanted to target Iraq and was looking for excuses to launch offensive against Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Accusing the rulers of playing “the role of US stooges,” he said: “Hatred of the US is increasing throughout the world. The MMA has created an awakening among the people who have rejected the pro-US policies by reposing their confidence in the MMA leadership.”

Hafiz Taqi said the MMA would represent the aspirations of the people in parliament. Allama Turabi said the US wanted to pit Muslims against Muslims on the basis of ethnicity and sects, but the Ummah through its unity would foil this conspiracy.

Usman Yar Khan said the US was not the enemy of a particular country but of Islam as a whole, and the Ulema would continue their struggle against the US.

Dr Siddiqui said if possessing nuclear weapons was a crime, then first of all action should be taken against the US itself and the nuclear installations of India and Israel should be subjected to inspection.