LAHORE, April 26: Jamaat-i-Islami Secretary-General Syed Munawwar Hasan alleged on Tuesday that the government was levelling ground for direct US aggression on the NWFP under the garb of curbing terrorism. The US think-tank, state department and envoy in Afghanistan are already urging the Bush administration to take a direct action after Pakistan army’s “failure to meet the target”, he said, regretting that Pakistan was silent on this sensitive issue.

Speaking at the Lahore Media Elites Forum here, he demanded discussion in parliament before launching an army operation in North Waziristan tribal agency at the behest of Americans who, he said, were taking the NWFP as a hub of Al-Qaeda activists.

Commenting on the state of national economy, he lamented that the rulers were spending lavishly on the purchase of vehicles for VVIPs whereas 54 million people of the country were living below the poverty line and devoid of health, educational and sanitation facilities.

In the last three years, he said, as many as 22 Mercedes Benz cars worth Rs1.8 billion were purchased on the directives of succeeding prime ministers. He said 41 such costly cars were already in use of the VVIPs and now another Mercedes Benz worth Rs11 million was being purchased for the National Assembly speaker, which exposed the government’s claims of eliminating the VIP culture.

He claimed that teams of the World Bank and the IMF would be reaching here in May to prepare the country’s budget.

The JI leader suggested abolition of surcharge, curbing tax-evasion, reducing GST ratio down to five per cent and slashing petroleum, electricity and gas tariffs to overcome poverty as well as budget deficit.

About Islamabad’s changing stance on Kashmir, he said, the bus service was not a solution to the problem but withdrawal of Indian troops from the held Kashmir, repeal of Indian black laws and state terrorism and allowing journalists in the occupied territory were some of the CBMs that could help resolve the issue.

As a final step both the countries should issue a joint declaration giving up their respective stands on Kashmir and allowing Kashmiris to independently decide their future in line with the UN resolutions, he suggested.

He informed reporters that Kashmir would be on top of the agenda of the MMA’s supreme council meeting in Lahore on April 30 while possibility of the PML-N and the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf’s joining the religious alliance would also be discussed. — Staff Reporter