LAHORE, Jan 15: Jamaat-i-Islami amir Liaquat Baloch warned on Sunday that protest would be lodged against the killing of civilians in Bajaur Agency as a result of bombardment by the US planes and the opposition parties would evolve a joint strategy against such happenings. He was speaking at a demonstration held near the Lahore Press Club to mark the black day observed throughout the country on the appeal of MMA President Qazi Husain Ahmad to condemn the attack in Bajaur Agency and the operation in Balochistan.
Local leaders of the MQM also took part in the demonstration, which remained peaceful.
Mr Baloch said workers of political and religious parties and the entire nation must prepare themselves for the country’s defence. He said the army was being criticized all over the country because of the policies of President Gen Pervez Musharraf.
The presence of NATO forces in Kashmir was hurting Pakistan’s interests. The tribesmen were being punished for supporting Kashmiris and attempting to include the Northern Areas into Pakistan.
The government, he said, was extending a hand of friendship to India while putting the Kashmir issue on the back burner. In contrast, India was not wasting any opportunity to endanger the integrity and solidarity of Pakistan.
Lahore MMA President Hafiz Salman Butt, an MNA, vowed to continue struggle against America and the military dictatorship. By repeatedly bombarding Pakistani areas and civilian targets, he said, the US had established that it was an enemy of Pakistani people whereas Washington was patronizing the president as the guardian of its interests.
He said the president’s Afghan policy also had disturbed the balance of power in the region and his Kashmir policy contradicted Pakistan’s stated stand on the issue. “The president has used his enlightenment concept as a pretext to interfere in religious seminaries and change the syllabi but the patriotic people of the country will not allow him to do so.”
Punjab PML-N Secretary-General Zaeem Qadri said one man could not be allowed to play with the fate of the nation. The party rejected his enlightenment and other steps.
MQM district organizer Dr Ali Husain Chaudhry criticized the president’s policies and the US attack in Bajaur Agency. He said the MQM was not with the president but with the innocent people who had been targeted. Meanwhile, former PML president Mian Muhammad Azhar termed the attack a calculated attempt to influence the sovereignty of Pakistan.
In a statement, he said the incident was a direct challenge to the rulers and a cause of concern for the people. The country was facing dangers despite the direct rule by army, he said.
Mian Azhar said it was the need of the hour to establish such a representative government in the country, which could reflect the real feelings of the people.