HYDERABAD, Jan 31: The leader of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and Naib Amir of Jamaat-i-Islami, Liaquat Baloch, has said a National Assembly session should be convened without delay to formulate a new foreign policy as the foreign policy of Gen Musharraf had failed.

He was speaking at a press conference at the local JI office on Friday.

He called upon the government not to back out on the Kashmir issue and extend all political and moral support to the people of Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

Mr Baloch regretted that the government’s “wavering stand” on the Kashmir issue last year had greatly harmed the cause of Kashmir.

He said there was no other solution to the Kashmir issue except the implementation of UN resolutions granting right to self-determination to the people of Kashmir.

He said India had committed wanton aggression against held Kashmir.

He demanded that India, Pakistan, and the Kashmiri leadership should sit together and resolve the Kashmir issue.

The MMA leader said that the US and the UK wanted to take over physical control of Iraq.

He warned that it was a dangerous move against Islam and the Islamic world.

Referring to President Bush’s state of the union speech, Mr Baloch said that it smacked of arrogance, and added that President Bush was the enemy of the entire human race.

He welcomed the stand taken by France, Germany, Russia and China on the Iraq issue.

He claimed that visits of the prime minister and the foreign minister abroad were utter failures, and added that the foreign minister instead of pleading the case of Pakistan had tried to develop personal rapport with US leaders.

Referring to the FBI’s activities in Pakistan and the presence of US forces at the airbases of the country, Mr Baloch said that it was clear encroachment on our independence and sovereignty.

He demanded that all the Americans living in Pakistan should be fingerprinted and others who came to Pakistan should be tested for AIDS.

He said the MMA was also seriously considering to launch a movement for boycotting US goods.

About the Legal Framework Order, he said all the amendments in the Constitution were poison for democracy.

He said the general should not make the LFO a point of ego, leave the post of the COAS, and try to get himself elected according to the Constitution.

He said this was necessary to salvage the prestige of our armed forces and to restore the confidence of the people in them.

He said the MMA in collaboration with the PPP and the PML-N was preparing an agenda to requisition the National Assembly session, and added that a notice regarding it would be filed in the assembly’s secretariat after Eidul Azha.

Referring to the state of the economy, he said it was going downhill.

He ridiculed the claim of the government that it had $10 billion reserves in its kitty.

He wondered why no relief had been given to the people adding that hunger, unemployment, poverty, and price hike had made the lives of the people miserable.

He said a capitalist system had been imposed on the country.

He warned that poverty and hunger were more dangerous than an atomic bomb.

He said the MMA leadership had decided to launch a “meet the people campaign” from March 16.

Answering a question about the Sindh government, he said it was hostage in the hands of vested interests.

He claimed that tribal wars were being encouraged by the government.

He condemned the government’s attempts to gag the press, and added that the defamation law had been promulgated to protect the interests of the government.

Expressing solidarity with the regional press, Mr Baloch said that in consultation with newsmen, the MMA would try to repeal anti-press laws in the National Assembly session.

Answering a question about the NFC Award, Mr Baloch stressed the need for announcement of an early award, which should come upto the expectations of the people.

Answering another question about the appointment of governors in the NWFP and Balochistan, the MMA leader claimed that the governor should be appointed in consultation with the MMA, which had a majority in these two provinces.

He cautioned the federal government that if it tried to create problems for the MMA in these two provinces, then it should also be prepared to face resistance.