Terming the Israeli offensive ‘aggression’ and ‘sheer violation of international laws’ the APC condemned the United States and Britain for rejecting a resolution against Israel in the Security Council.
A resolution adopted at the APC said that using an Israeli soldier’s killing as a pretext to attack Lebanon and kill scores of civilians had once again made it clear that Israel was a terrorist country which enjoyed full support from the US and UK. It said that peace across the globe was under threat by Israel’s aggressive posture. “The Middle East is burning, and champions of peace are satisfied with the bloodshed of Muslims in that region,” it added.
The APC, held at the JI office, Idara Noor-i-Haq, with Prof Ghafoor Ahmed in the chair, was addressed by Rashid Rabbani of PPP, Amin Khattak of ANP, Allama Nazim Abbas Naqvi of Islami Tehrik, Dr Mairajul Huda Siddiqui of JI, Siddique Rathor of JUP, Syed Zia Abbas of NPP, Zubair Ahmad of Tehrik-i-Insaaf, Basharat Mirza of PDP, Yousuf Mastikhan of National Workers Party, Aftab Qadri of Sunni Tehrik, Afzal Sarwar of Jamiat Ahle Hadees and Khan Mohammad Rabbani of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam and several other leaders.
They criticised the attitude of OIC and heads of Islamic countries, and paid tributes to all those resisting the Zionist onslaught, saying that 1.5 billion Muslims around the world stood behind the oppressed people of Palestine and Lebanon.
Observing that the Israeli offensive was continuing since June 25 with the destruction of the offices of the Palestinian Prime Minister, they noted that thousands of Palestinians, including nine ministers and 25 members of parliament, had been kidnapped by the Israeli forces. They condemned that besides killing a large number of people in Lebanon, the Israeli raids had forced millions of people to flee the country and take shelter in neighbouring countries.
The APC demanded an immediate halt to the aggression, and called for the deployment of a peace force comprising troops from Muslim countries to restore peace in the Palestinian territory and Lebanon.
ALLAMA TURABI: Through another resolution, the APC condemned assassination of Allama Hasan Turabi, and termed it continuity of target killing of religious scholars. It referred to the assassination of Mufti Shamzai, Mufti Jameel Naeemi, Maulana Yusuf Ludhyanvi, a large number of religious figures in Nishtar Park bomb blast, in this context. It attributed the killing of prominent figures and political activists, including MPA Abdullah Murad, Munawwar Suhrawardi, Hakim Mohammad Saeed, Mirza Luqman Beg, Aslam Mujahid, Farhan and others, to the same series of target killings.
Calling upon people to keep themselves prepared for a massive movement against the government, the APC advised the rulers to quit before being forced out in a popular movement.
PRICE HIKE: The APC also adopted a resolution against the sky-rocketing prices, terrorism, extortion, loot and plunder, political intolerance and the government’s utter failure in improving economy and common man’s standard of living. It pointed out that the government’s trick of presenting wrong figures was exposed by the World Bank, and noted that when the MMA started work on a white paper in this regard, its worker, Ayaz Mehmood, was subjected to victimisation and sent behind the bars in a false case. The resolution demanded immediate release of Mr Mehmood and withdrawal of the case registered against him.