LAHORE: Thousands of people turned out on roads on Friday to denounce unprovoked NATO attacks resulting in the martyrdom of over two dozen Pakistani soldiers, on the appeal of the Jamaat e Islami chief, Syed Munawar Hasan.
Khateebs in their Friday sermons, condemned the blatant NATO aggression while leaders of the JI and other religious parties addressing protest rallies called for a resolute stand against the aggressor. They also demanded immediate withdrawal from the US war. They appealed for a complete national unity for meeting the challenges ahead.
Protest rallies were held in the federal capital besides Rawalpindi, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Multan, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Sargodha, and various other cities and towns.
Syed Munawar Hasan, in his Friday sermon at the Mansoora mosque, said that the US had begun an un-declared war with this country since long, its drones had killed thousands of innocent citizens in tribal areas. The latest NATO attack, he said, could be the termed as the blatant aggression and terrorism. He said some time back, the Mehran naval base in Karachi was attacked in which two of most costly planes had been destroyed within minutes. Such a quick activity could not be that of the Taliban. However, he said, not much notice was taken of this big incident.
The JI chief said that Pakistan had extended maximum facilities and support to the US and NATO. He said the people of the country had been demanding at the top of their voice that the NATO supplies be stopped but nobody paid heed. For the first time, the government had stopped these supplies but it was unclear whether the intelligence sharing had also been stopped.
Syed Munawar Hasan appreciated the government decision to boycott the Bonn Conference on the future of Afghanistan. He said in the first place, the US won’t quit Afghanistan. And secondly, he said, the future of Afghanistan should not be Washington’s headache as Afghans were in a better position to decide for themselves.
The JI chief further said that the interest of the US and Pakistan clashed with each other. For instance, the US wanted the Pakistan army to fight against Taliban. He wondered what the sixty per cent of the world forces (NATO) were doing in Afghanistan and why should the Pakistan army join them. He said the Taliban s had inflicted a defeat on the US and NATO but the US believed this was only due to Pakistan. In fact, he said, the US wanted the Pak army to bear the blame of this defeat.
The JI chief said the US had three main objectives in this region, to occupy the vast oil and gas resources of Afghanistan, to destabilise Pakistan and take over its nuclear arsenal, and to build India as regional policeman. However, he said, the Hindus had never attained such high position nor had they capability for that.
He urged the government to sick to its decisions and added that this was possible only with complete national support. He said a parliament session had been convened but added that the decisions or resolutions of the previous parliaments should also be implemented first.
In Rawalpindi, a big rally was staged outside Press Club which was addressed by the JI Secretary General, Liaqat Baloch. He said this was NATO’s 14th attack in this country. The rulers, he said, had been deceiving the nation so long as the drones had been taking off from the Shamsi and Shahbaz airbases to attack our people. He urged the government and the armed forces to stick to their present decisions.
The rally staged at Islamabad was led by the JI Islamabad chief, Mian Muhammad Aslam. The JI Punjab chief , Dr Syed Waseem Akhtar led the rally at Multan.
The Peshawar rally was taken out from the historic Masjid Hahabat Khan and was led by Prof. Muhammad Ibrhaim.
A big rally was held in the Punjab capital outside Mansoora. Dr Farid Ahmed Piracha, deputy Secretary General, JI, addressing the rally, demanded immediate eviction of the US troops from Shamsi and Shahbaz airbases. He called upon the rulers, the opposition leaders, and bureaucrats to bring back their wealth abroad to the country.
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