KARACHI, March 27: Scholars and political leaders condemned on Thursday the use of brute force against the Iraqi people, called for end to the war and withdrawal of allied forces, creation of a countervailing peoples force to obstruct the undesirable unipolar world and urged the UN to fulfil its obligations for the restoration of peace.
This was crux of the roundtable conference on the US invasion of Iraq and expected changes in the world order.
The conference was held under the auspicious of the Pakistan Peace Coalition.
In a joint declaration, the participants demanded immediate withdrawal of the US-led coalition forces from Iraq and asked Pakistan and India to work for de-escalation of tensions and for disarmament to avoid nuclear conflict.
Concern was also expressed about the growing nuclearization of the South Asian region and the conference called upon the governments of India and Pakistan to renounce the use of force for the settlement of their disputes.
In a concept paper circulated at the conference, it was emphasized that all political problems should be solved by non-violent popular mobilization and by relying only on rational arguments.
“No issue is worth fighting a modern war. That goes for all militarism in South Asia. Instead, the competitive and adversarial nationalisms need to be made irrelevant and replaced with democratic and peace movements,” it said.
The information secretary of the Pakistan Peoples Party, Taj Haider, said in the wake of the Iraq situation the people of the world were supporting peace without any religious or nationalistic prejudices.
He said Pakistan had the chance as a member of the UN Security Council to work harder for peace. He was of the view that the UN should have called for peace-keeping forces instead of the invasion by allied forces.
PML (N)’s Mamnoon Husain said the US was responsible for the increasing extremism and said his party was totally against any form of aggression. He was of the view that only the people of a country had the right to regime change.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Kunwar Khalid Yunus said it was necessary to think why only Iraq was targeted, though Saddam was the former darling of the US and had killed more Muslims. He said efforts should be made to avoid being labelled which might trigger an attack on Pakistan. Hitting hard at the religious parties for their current stance and their alleged backing of the jihadi elements in Afghanistan and Kashmir, he said the situation in Kashmir was also tense and efforts should be made save the people of the sub-continent from war.
Millat Party’s Javed Jabbar discussed various scenarios and hoped the good qualities of the US society would check the hegemonic designs of their government.
The secretary-general of the Tehrik-i-Insaf, Mairaj Mohammed Khan, said the way the US was killing people should be condemned, adding that the US was the biggest aggressor. He said the US and the UK attacked Iraq under the pretext of Iraq being in possession of weapons of mass destruction, though they themselves possessed the largest arsenal of WMD. He was of the view that Pakistan should move a resolution in the Security Council denouncing the US-led invasion of Iraq.
Tahir Bizenjo of the Balochistan National Democratic Party was opposed to aggression from all quarters and in all its forms. He said this was not a clash of civilization, rather it was a war for resources.
Abdul Khaliq Junejo of the Jiye Sindh Mahaz condemned the dictatorial rule of Saddam, but he was also opposed to the US invasion.
Former senator Iqbal Haider observed that the US had a tendency to create monsters and killing them after it had used them. He was also critical of the MMA and was of the view that “the religious parties are a big drain on religion itself.”
Foreign policy expert Shahida Wizarat deplored the US action and was of the view that the bombing of Iraq would generate market for the armament industry. She was of the view that the US was trying to create its own regional influentials. In the context of India and Pakistan, she said the onus for peace was on the shoulders of both the countries.
Dr Kaiser Bengali spoke on dependence on the US of the authoritarian governments in Muslim countries
The conference was also addressed by Asad Saeed, Rahat Saeed, Muqtida Mansoor and Aly Ercelawn. The conference was presided over by M. B. Naqvi and moderated by Karamat Ali.
It was felt that the most important factor shaping international affairs was the US invasion of Iraq and its appetite for military intervention, but the appetite for bloodshed and destruction was unlikely to be satiated with Iraq.
Many thought that the US wanted to redraw the map of the Middle East by planting pliant regimes in the region.
It was also emphasized that the officials surrounding George W. Bush were openly advocating an expansionist and imperial policy. It was noted that it was an American attempt to achieve by force of arms what it could not do by its economic policies and diplomacy.
An opinion was expressed that the Bush administration’s design was to eliminate the Baathist regime (s) from Iraq and might be Syria which would immeasurably strengthen Israel. The latter would face no cognisably strong enemy except Iran, which could come in the firing line, though it might not be made the target of a purely military aggression in view of its size, strength and expected resistance.