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Published 27 Oct, 2008 12:00am

Qazi fears federation’s disintegration: JI congregation concludes

LAHORE, Oct 26: In his first direct assault on the armed forces, Jamaat-i-Islami Amir Qazi Husain Ahmed has alleged that the army is on way to disintegrate the country to accomplish “the US agenda” in the region.

In his concluding address to the participants of the party’s three-day congregation on Minar-i-Pakistan lawns here on Sunday, Mr Ahmed said the army operation in the tribal areas was being carried out to pave a way for disintegration of the country through a separatist movement there.

“The operation was launched in the name of nabbing a few terrorists,” the JI leader said.

“But not a single terrorist has so far been arrested or presented before the media while hundreds of ordinary citizens are being killed daily there to create animosity among the tribesmen against the country.”

Mr Ahmed criticised the government for not halting the operation in Bajaur Agency despite a unanimous resolution passed by the joint session of parliament, saying that parliament must hold accountable the people responsible for violating the resolution.

He also announced a fund for the people of Bajaur and other tribal areas which attracted donation worth Rs20 million and other valuables, including gold ornaments, from the participants.

Former Inter-Services Intelligence chief Gen Hameed Gul said the key to Kashmir's freedom lied in Afghanistan. The US was retreating from Afghanistan and Iraq, and once they pulled out of Afghanistan, Kashmiris’ freedom struggle would meet its logical end while Pakistan would also be liberated from the American yoke, he said.

He claimed “the US war on terror was aimed at disintegrating Pakistan”.

Senator Prof Khurshid Ahmad said the government had failed to give any economic policy despite eight months in power. He said the present economic crisis was a result of the wrong policies of Musharraf-Shaukat rule but the PPP government never tried to change them.

He said Jamaat’s economic model gave priority to human resources rather than capital and after coming to power it would enforce the model.

Prof Mohammad Ibrahim said army operation could push the tribal areas and the NWFP into the same situation in which Bangladesh was before separation from Pakistan.

Liaqat Baloch criticised Gen Pervez Musharraf for, what he said, handing over Dr Aafia Siddiqui to the US for the sake of dollars. The JI leader said that rulers were trying to fail lawyers' movement but deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry would be restored.

Earlier, in an international session, representatives of Muslim movements stressed the need for a greater Muslim unity and collective efforts for countering anti-Muslim conspiracies to protect the helpless Muslim populations all over the world.

Speakers included Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt, leader Dr Omar Saeed Al-Qantavi, Jordan chapter secretary Dr Hammam Saeed, Islamic Movement, Tunis, leader Sheikh Rashed Al Ghannoshi, British journalist Maryam, formerly Yvonne Ridley, who embraced Islam following release from Taliban's captivity, Jamaat-i-Islami, India, secretary-general Nusrat Ali, and Party of Islam, Malaysia, leader and chief minister of Perak province Mohammad Nizar bin Jamaluddin.

Ms Maryam said the FBI had admitted that prisoner No 650 was still there in Bagram prison. She said she was in Pakistan to search for the identity of that prisoner and that Pakistanis should help her till that prisoner is released from American detention.

She criticised Gen Musharraf for admitting in his book about extraditing innocent Pakistanis to the US for a few dollars, and called it the most shameful thing for a leader and president.

Representative of Iranian President Ahmadinejad, Ayatollah Ali Taskhiri said western economic crisis was compounding the problems of oppressed Muslims and Islamic movements.

KASHMIR: Speakers at a Kashmir session unanimously said the mass movement of the Kashmiri Muslims could not be suppressed with the military force and the Ummah must help the Kashmiris realise their right to self-determination guaranteed by UN resolutions.

They criticised President Zardari, for what they said, branding Kashmiri freedom fighters terrorists.

Hurriyet Conference leader Syed Ali Gilani (who spoke from phone from Srinagar) said at a time when the whole Kashmir had come out on roads to realise their right to self- determination, the attitude of Pakistani rulers was discouraging. He said that for the first time in Kashmir’s history effigies of any Pakistani president were set ablaze.

Detained nuclear scientist Dr AQ Khan, in a special message, said that he wanted to attend the congregation in person but the government did not allow him to do so.

Hizbul Mujahideen Supreme Commander Syed Salahuddin said India was conspiring to change the demography of Kashmir by bringing the Hindus to the valley and giving them more and more land for building their temples.

Ghulam Nabi Naushehri, former amir of the Jamaat in held Kashmir, said the Kashmir issue must be resolved before starting trade with India. APHC leader Ghulam Mohammad Safi presented a resolution condemning the reported interview of President Zardari. The resolution demanded the Pakistan government play its role in compensating the negative effects Zardari's interview caused on Kashmiri freedom struggle.

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