MULTAN, March 4: Opposition leader in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said that the American President’s South Asian visit has exposed the ‘position’ Islamabad and Gen Musharraf held before the international powers.

Talking to newsmen here on Saturday, he said President Bush had signed nuclear, defence and economic pacts with India while his attitude towards Pakistan was just like a master who was patting his slave for the services he rendered.

He said the American president had not even withheld himself from giving Pakistan any economic and defence leverage for being an ‘important’ ally in its so-called war on terror but the joint statement had also no mention of the Kashmir issue. On the other hand, America had ignored the Non-Proliferation Treaty while signing far-reaching nuclear agreements with India, the Maulana added.

He said while completely submitting to the American pressure after the 9/11, Gen Musharraf had argued that by this Pakistan would gain more importance in the region as against its arch rival India. “But Bush’s visit has established that the Musharraf doctrine has failed miserably to yield the desired results,” he asserted.

He said that America wanted to increase its influence on the western frontier of Pakistan before attacking Iran in order to get complete hold of the consequent ‘geographical changes’ in the region and the recent statements of Afghan President Hamid Karzai about alleged infiltration should be seen in this background. “The Afghan president is speaking the language of US envoy Zalmey Khalilzad,” he remarked.

He stressed that the turmoil in Balochistan should be addressed through dialogue and parliamentary avenues rather than the gun’s barrel. He feared that the fighting in Balochistan could spread to the Pak-Iran border and if it happened the United States could get another opportunity to increase its influence in the area.

He criticized Gen Musharraf for his alleged statement that the eastern borders would be strengthened through dialogues while the western by the use of force. “This is nothing but a path to self-destruction,” the leader of the opposition said observing that by such strategies Gen Musharraf had been strengthening American designs in the region.