MMA Secretary-General Maulana Fazlur Rehman, addressing an anti-US rally here on Friday, announced: “We declare jihad against America that has stationed its forces in Pakistan to do away with our sovereignty”.
The rally was held to protest against the possible US attack on Iraq and to condemn the bombing of an abandoned seminary in the South Waziristan agency by American warplanes a few days ago.
More than 2,000 activists of various religious parties and madressah students attended the protest meeting. They also took out a procession, chanting anti-US and anti-Israel slogans, from Madni Masjid, Namak Mandi, and marched on various roads of the city.
Parliamentarians Qari Fiazur Rehman Alvi and Sabir Hussain Awan, and some MPAs led the procession which culminated at Khyber Bazaar where MMA’s parliamentary leader Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Secretary-General Maulana Fazlur Rehman and others addressed the demonstrators.
Some religious activists were carrying a banner that read: “We strongly condemn the US barbarism and express solidarity with the people of Iraq. Bush and Tony are terrorists and killers of Muslims”. The angry mob also torched an effigy of President Bush.
Speaking at the rally, Maulana Fazlur Rehman said the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) would never be allowed to conduct raids or investigate suspects in Peshawar or any other part of the NWFP.
“The law and order situation is our internal issue and the NWFP government does not need any foreign assistance in this matter,” he said and warned the US against meddling with the Pakistan internal affairs.
America, he said, had sent FBI teams to usurp freedom and sovereignty of Pakistanis and to determine its hegemony in the region.
The Maulana said the US wanted to target the Islamic countries one by one. After Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia could be the next target of America’s adventurism, he explained.
He made an appeal to Russia, China and other members of the UN Security Council to veto the US resolution against Iraq. He said America had misguided the Security Council on the issue of so-called weapons of mass destruction.
The MMA secretary-general said the presence of army generals in power politics was posing a threat to national security and integrity of the country as the military establishment was more loyal to the US than the country.
MMA parliamentary leader Qazi Hussain Ahmad said the government was tight-lipped over the US bombing in the Pakistani territory and did not bother to register even a nominal protest against the incident.
He said the US government had given Pakistan weapons and communication equipment to keep the countrymen under surveillance, which was a unique precedent in the history of spying.
The MMA leader said America had already termed “Iraq, Iran and North Korea” an axis of evil and blamed Saudi Arabia for providing assistance to the Muslim fundamentalist organisations across the world.
He said Islamabad should review its foreign policy and adopt firm stand on vital national issues. He demanded of the government to restore constitutional powers of parliament and abolish the controversial Legal Framework Order.