LAHORE, Jan 27: Speakers at a national conference, organised by the Jamaat-i-Islami in memory of Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Prof Ghafoor Ahmad, said on Sunday Pakistan could only be saved by wiping out hereditary politics and corruption.

They stressed the need for Muslim unity to foil the “conspiracies of colonial powers” and for the liberation of Kashmir, Palestine and other occupied areas. They termed services of Qazi Hussain and Prof Ghafoor unforgettable.

Presided over by JI chief Syed Munawar Hasan, the conference was addressed by Difa-e-Pakistan Council President Maulana Samiul Haq, Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, PML-N leaders Sartaj Aziz and Saad Rafique, PTI chief Imran Khan, Javed Hashmi, Maulana Hanif Jalandhry and others.

The JI chief said that his party did not want turmoil or a bloody revolution in the country, adding it only wanted the rule of constitution and law. He said to ensure free and fair elections, every relevant provision of the constitution must be implemented in letter and spirit and only the people fulfilling constitutional requirements should be allowed to contest the elections.

Maulana Haq stated Pakistan was currently in a state of war. “The world’s colonial powers have attacked the Muslim world like hungry wolves. The US and its allies, including Pakistani rulers, don’t want the supremacy of Islam in the country. The US attacked Afghanistan only because an Islamic government had been formed there,” he said.

He said hundreds of clerics and religious scholars had been killed in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Sectarianism was being fanned. He said the enemy could not be defeated unless religious leadership faithfully followed the life of Qazi Hussain and Prof Ahmed.

Hafiz Saeed said Qazi Hussain wanted to see a united Muslim world and considered the issues of Kashmir, Palestine the issues of the entire Muslim community. He said Qazi Hussain had brought together the leaders of divergent views under the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal and the Milli Yakjehti Council. Throughout his life, Qazi Hussain tried to end the menace of sectarianism, he added. Veteran Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Geelani, addressing by telephone, said had Pakistani rulers faithfully followed Islam’s golden teachings instead of acting as agents of secular powers, the country would not have been dismembered.

Imran Khan and other speakers also paid tribute to Qazi Hussain and Prof Ghafoor.