KOHAT, March 30: Former president and chief of the Millat Party, Sardar Farooq 

Ahmed Khan Leghari, said that there was no imminent threat  of war against any 

Muslim country, after Iraq as being propagated by the international and national 

media, claiming that Pakistan was in safe hands.

Speaking at a party-workers’convention here on Sunday, the former  president said that the country had nuclear deterrent and major powers could not ignore Pakistan because of their interests in the region.

However, he opined that Pakistan should not trust the western countries because they had their own vested interests. The West had been wrongly terming the indigenous independence movements in Palestine, Kashmir, Chechnya and Afghanistan, terrorism.

Mr Leghari recalled that all the heads of state of Pakistan had patronized and continued the nuclear and missile programme initiated   by late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, which proved that the army and the politicians were unanimous as far as the security of the country was concerned.  

He criticized the US-UK attack on Iraq, which, he said, was a violation of the UN charter and norms, demanding that the Iraqis should be allowed to decide about their fate.

He said that Iraq’s resistance was a success for its people.

He also observed that had the former Soviet Union not attacked  Afghanistan it would have saved USSR from disintegration and moreover it would have discouraged US from committing brutal acts against other nations.

He said that in spite of having great military might the former USSR met disaster when it ignored the international rules and laws.

Mr Leghari observed that justice for all, irrespective of religion,   was a prerequisite for creation of a peaceful world and for wiping out terrorism at the international level. He warned that unless the unjust attitude of the Zionists towards the Muslims changed, peace could not be assured.

He expressed his grave concern over the slow and selective accountability of the corrupt politicians and recovery of the looted wealth from them.

He estimated the money transferred into foreign banks by the corrupt politicians over the last two decades as $50 billion, which if recovered, could be utilized for paying the country’s huge loans.

He termed the amount recovered from the corrupt politicians by the accountability bureau a ‘tip of an iceberg’ and demanded stern action against such elements.

He asked the ulema to create unity among themselves through education and initiate dialogue with main political parties to set priorities  regarding the country.

He said that his party was for judicious distribution of resources   among the provinces and wanted solution of all standing disputes, including   that of water, which was important for agriculture. He also proposed a dam on the Indus river in any of the southern districts of the NWFP.

Senator Mohammad Ali Durrani, central secretary-general of the Millat Party, in his brief speech called upon the politicians to come together to do something for the betterment of the people and asked them to do clean politics, which was the only way to block the military from coming into power through unconstitutional means.

Federal minister for information, science and technology, Sardar Awais Legahri, and provincial president of the party Tariq Hamayun were also present on the occasion.