HYDERABAD, March 21: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal has, in no uncertain terms, condemned the US-led invasion of Iraq and called upon the Muslim Ummah to forge unity to fight against what it described as the evil designs of President George Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Speaking at a news conference at the Hyderabad Press Club here on Friday, district president of the MMA Maulana Abdul Waheed Qureshi said that the high command of the MMA had decided to observe a Pakistan-wide Ashra Ittehad-e-Ummah (ten days of Ummah unity) while a huge demonstration would be held in Hyderabad on March 30.

He said that the American president was holding the entire world hostage to enforce his new world order.

He was accompanied by and others.

He said that Mr Bush had been eying the natural resources of the Muslim countries, adding that he wanted to capture them by hook or by crook.

Citing the example of the British empire, he expressed the hope the United States of America would also disintegrate in due course of time.

He urged Prime Minister Jamali to shoulder his responsibilities and demonstrate to the world that the Pakistani nation would not succumb to pressures or threats, adding that the prime minister should condemn the US invasion of Iraq in clear terms.

Iraq, he said, did not have a nuclear capability, yet it had been asked to disarm, adding that Pakistan was a nuclear capable country and it should be prepared to call spade a spade.