LAHORE, Nov 1: The religious parties in the Pak-Afghan Defence Council questioned here on Thursday the rationale of the government’s decision to extend support to the United States for attacks on Afghanistan, saying the ‘bait’ offered by the US would never materialise.
Speaking at a news conference here, they said the United States had little interest in the liberation of Kashmir, writing off Pakistan’s outstanding loans or securing for its nuclear installations.
Describing the US promises as a mirage, they said Pakistan would get nothing in return for its cooperation against a brotherly Islamic state. The religious parties, they said, would continue their campaign to bring down the government.
Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl) secretary-general Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidri said instead of expecting the US to play any role in protecting Pakistan’s nuclear installations, the government should keep in mind that these installations would become more vulnerable if US aircraft were allowed to use the Mianwali base.
He ridiculed the US demand that Pakistan should hand over to Washington the details of its nuclear assets to save them from falling in the extremists’ hands.
He warned that if the rulers handed over nuclear scientist Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood and some others to the US the situation would get out of control.
The JUI leader said regrettably the then rulers had handed over Aimal Kasi and Yousaf Ramzi to the US in return for some dollars. Now the present government, he said, was thinking of turning over to the US the people who had played an important role in advancing the country’s nuclear programme.
He said the government should release these people without delay.
Maulana Haidri said a big rally would be held in Lahore on Friday to condemn US aggression against Afghanistan and the policies of Musharraf government’s policies and to seek release of the nuclear scientist.
Jamaat-i-Islami’s Liaquat Baloch appealed to the traders and transporters to observe a complete strike on Nov 9.
Appeal to the traders, appeared to be the result of some second thoughts as originally only the transporters had been asked to observe the strike.
The JI leader thanked Alliance for Restoration of Democracy president Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan and the Pakistan Muslim League central working committee for supporting the strike call. He condemned the arrest and detention of JUI’s Maulana Fazlur Rahman, PML’s Javed Hashmi and Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan’s Maulana Azam Tariq.
Mr Baloch told a questioner the peaceful rallies to be staged in the country would force the rulers to step down.
As for the threats that the government would use force to foil opposition parties’ programmes, he said the interior minister had a consistent record of threats and retreats.