LAHORE, Aug 20: Success of Hizbollah resistance against Isreal in Lebanon was described as a message of hope for the disappointed Muslims around the world and a proof of the supremacy of the power of people over the US military might at a seminar here on Sunday.
Speaking at the Seminar on the International Implications of Hizbollah’s Resistance arranged by the Imamia Students Organisation, former ISI chief Hamid Gul described the resistance as a watershed. He said that the resistance had proved the philosophy of the people talking about ground realities wrong and changed the notion about balance of power. Israel would, however, formulate a new strategy to continue its excesses against the Muslims.
He said that the defeat of Israel was in fact the defeat of the US. He said that happenings in Lebanon were instrumental in forging unity between Shia and Sunni Muslims. Hamas was a Sunni organisation and Hizbollah, which came to its rescue, was a Shia organization, he said. Hizbollah was equally popular not only among Shias and Sunnis but among Christians as well who had hoisted its flags on their churches, he said.
He said that the happenings in Lebanon had isolated the rulers in the Islamic countries and there was a possibility of uprisings against them for their failure to stand by the people of Lebanon. The rulers were left with no option but to change their policies failing which they would be changed themselves. He advised the government to stop describing the jihad as tererorism as it united people. Only bloodshed under sectarianism was terrorism.
Senator Allama Abbas Kamaili said that Hizbollah’s successful resistance had given a new hope to the disappointed and depressed Muslims around the world. He said that both the Muslims and the Jews believed in the ultimate domination of their faith over the world. Islam was opposed to thrusting of its ideology but everything could be done for achieving the objective under Zionism.
He said that the resistance in Afghanistan was wrongly described as jihad because those engaged in it were not fighting for Allah. He said that both Shia and Sunni Muslims had fought side by side against the common enemy during Hizbollah’s resistance.
Former foreign minister Sardar Assef Ahmed Ali said that Hizbollah’s successful resistance was the beginning of the defeat of Isreal. He said that Israel was not a country but a military base of the western countries established for maintaining control over oil resources of Islamic countries.
The US continued involving Islamic countries in mutual conflicts for weakening them. It had involved Iraq in war with Iran to weaken it and invaded it later on.
He said that the US had neutralised all the Islamic countries around Israel except Iran. The rulers in all the countries were under US influence and only organisations like Hamas and Hizbollah could protect the people. He said that Israel could not be defeated by military power and could be dealt with only by guerrilla warfare.
Columnist Ayaz Amir said that Hizbollah’s resistance had silenced those describing it as adveturism and shown a new way to the Muslims. It had also resulted in political turmoil in Israel where the people had demanded exit of the prime minister. He said that a jihad could be waged only by organisations like Hamas and Hizbollah. The organisations like the ISI could not support a jihad as it would fall a victim to its reservations. He said that there was no democracy in most of the Islamic countries and the rulers were forced to tow the US policies because they did not enjoy the support of the people.
Punjab Tehreek-i-Insaaf president Javed Iqbal said that the Muslims in all the countries had no option but to follow Hizbollah because their rulers did not enjoy their support. He said that the army rule had been harmful to Pakistan from the very beginning. The army had sold two rivers, introduced kalshanikov culture and dismembered the country.
Pakistan Peoples Party leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the happenings in Lebanon had isolated the rulers and united the people against the US and Isreal. It had also proved that the people and not the armies fought against an aggression.
Mujibur Rehman Shami said that Israel had failed to eliminate Hizbollah during the attack on Lebanon. Hizbollah had won only on one front and not the war as Israel would launch a fresh offensive against it later one. He said that Hizbollah’s resistance had shown the people a way to defend themselves by their unity. He said that Pakistan had been created as an Islamic country and those spreading sectarianism were its enemies.
Jafferia Alliance, Karachi, leader Maulana Hassan Zafar Naqvi said that Hizboillah’s struggle had proved that big powers could be defeated even without military resources. It had also exploded the myth of infallibility of Israel. He regretted that the OIC had failed to come to the rescue of Lebanon despite declaring that an offensive against one Islamic country would be considered an offensive against the entire Muslim Ummah.