LAHORE, Nov 26: The Pak-Afghan Defence Council has decided to observe Friday (Nov 30) as a black day as a mark of protest against the massacre of the Afghan people.

Council chief Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidri called on ARD President Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan on Monday to extend an invitation for participation in various programmes.

The Nawabzada accepted the initiation, saying he had always been on the side of the Afghan people and opposed to foreign invasion. He informed Maulana Haidri about his plan to hold an all-party conference to evolve a national consensus on matters of political significance.

Maulana Haidri assured the Nawabzada that all leaders of the Defence Council would participate.

The JUI leader said while talking to reporters that movement launched against the government would continue till the attainment of its objectives. He said the arrest of various leaders would make little difference as the nation was on the side of the defence council. “We’ll force Gen Musharraf to step down”.

Replying to a question, the Maulana said that views being expressed by Gen Pervez Musharraf were not reflective of army’s thinking. He claimed that many people from the army had also contributed to the fund the JUI was raising for the Afghan people.

Answering another question, the JUI leader said President Musharraf and PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto were in a race with each other to get closer to the United States.

The JUI was critical of human rights organizations which were silent over the genocide of the Afghans. He said it was regrettable that no champion of human rights had raised its voice for the barbarism going on in the war-ravaged country.

He said that defence council was scheduled to meet in Karachi on Dec 1 to review the situation and decide the future programme. Parties which were not members of the council were also being invited, the JUI leader said.

According to him, PML-N Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq had already accepted the invitation.

The Nawabzada informed the JUI leader about the agenda of the proposed APC. Sources close to the ARD president say that the Nawabzada has started contacting other parties to hold the APC at the earliest in view of the gravity of the situation. It is expected that the conference will be held during Ramazan.

Although the Nawabzada goes to Khangarh in Ramazan, this year he is staying in the Punjab capital.

It may be recalled that 42 parties had participated in the APC which the Nawabzada had held about a year ago.

Meanwhile, the Jamaat-i-Islami in a statement issued on Monday declared the US bombardment of a Mazar-i-Sharif jail which resulted in the killing of scores of Taliban prisoners as a peak of the moral bankruptcy of America and an open “war crime.”

It said that protest demonstrations and public meetings would be organized the next Friday against the American terror attacks on unarmed Afghans.

Central leaders of the PADC in their joint statement also appealed to the champions of human rights to participate in the demonstrations to protest against the violation of international laws and human rights.

They said that the violation of international laws by the US forces would promote terrorism instead of eliminating it. They demanded that presidents of the United States and Pakistan George Bush and Pervez Musharraf, respectively, and other allies should be tried for heinous war crimes for the uncalled for attacks on Afghanistan.

The leaders, including PADC acting president Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, JI acting chief Syed Munawwar Hasan, JUP leader Shah Ahmad Noorani, Tanzeem-i-Islami Amir Dr Israr Ahmad, Central Jamiat Ahle Hadith Amir Prof Sajid Mir and Lt-Gen Hameed Gul (retired), said the Pakistan government was equally responsible for the war crimes of American in Afghanistan as Pakistan’s “failed” Afghan policy and acceptance of US pressure had provided a chance to the allied forces for unleashing a wave of terror in the region resulting in the massacre of thousands of unarmed Afghans and Pakistanis in the streets of Afghanistan.