JI demands about Waziristan Operation

The News, March 25, 2006
JI congregation demands end to Waziristan operation
By Javed Aziz Khan

PESHAWAR: Around 50,000 participants of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) congregation here on Friday roared a loud "yes" when NWFP Senior Minister Sirajul Haq questioned whether they wanted to get rid of the US and "its loyal rulers in the country".

The congregation rejected the US policies regarding the Ummah and asked the federal government to stop operation in Waziristan, initiated at the behest of the US.

The organisers of the gathering have demanded that more than 50,000 workers with over 5,000 women from all over the country registered their names on the first day.

A makeshift village decorated with national and party flags and banners inscribed with welcoming phrases and Qur’aanic verses, has been established at the spacious 32 kanal of ground of Wapda Housing Society on main Grand Trunk Road, eight kilometres from Peshawar city.

Separate tent halls for men and women have been established where they will have all the basic facilities separately. "Separate arrangements of food, health, ablution and shopping are made for 50,000 women who are expected to attend the gathering," an organiser told this scribe. The organisers are expecting 250,000 men along with 50,000 women from all over the country to attend the annual congregation.

"The nation has to support the religious parties of the country if it wanted to get rid of the US and its allies as the so-called moderates are promoting the western agenda," the senior minister asked during his opening speech Friday. He alleged that 80,000 Army men have been deployed only to implement the US agenda.

"Only a few families are dominant in Army and police who have divided the country in past, who handed over air bases to the US and who bring the terrorist Muttahida into power," Sirajul Haq addressed the participants of the JI assembly. He was critical that Army has failed to secure the borders despite 34 per cent budget was spent on it for the past 58 years.

The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and JI chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad was seen on the stage but he did not address the gathering on the opening day. Central Naib Amir of the JI Senator Prof Mohammad Ibrahim and head of Fehmul Qur’aan Maulana Ismail were the main speakers of Friday. A film based on highlights of the three and half years’ performance of the MMA government in the NWFP was screened in the evening.

Provincial Minister for Health Inayatullah who is deputed to welcome and accompany the foreign delegates informed The News that a delegation from Turkey could not come due to congregation in their own country. "We had invited very selected people," the minister replied when asked whether these delegates were accompanied by others or they are here alone.

Qazi Hussain Ahmad, JUI Chief and opposition leader in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman and NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani would address the congregation today and on the final day (Sunday).

Apart from other arrangements, the authorities have established medical camps and makeshift hospitals in the village where 14 beds have been reserved for men and six others for women. On the first day, 300 patients were treated and provided medicines in these camps, having 40 doctors on duty with six ambulances for emergency purposes.

The party had held their previous congregation last year at the Azakhel Park when heavy rains and windstorm forced many of the participants to run away in hurry after tents fell down. The organisers were also praying for a better weather on Friday when clouds were hovering in the nearby area all the day.

March 26, 2006: The News
Islamic leaders say US war on terror is against Muslims

By Rahimullah Yusufzai

PESHAWAR: A ranking leader of Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt said here Saturday that the US and its allies were waging war against all Muslims even if they claimed to be fighting al-Qaeda and Taliban only.

Shaikh Syed Maqsood, a member of parliament in Egypt who also sits on the shura of Muslim Brotherhood and is editor of Islamic research unit in the Al-Azhar University, said President George W Bush had publicly declared that the so-called war on terror was in fact crusades, making it clear that Muslims were the real target. He pointed out that the US had occupied Afghanistan and Iraq as part of this war.

However, he said Islamic movements were adopting different strategies with those fighting in occupied places such as Palestine, Iraq and Kashmir taking up arms. He said in countries like Egypt that weren’t under foreign occupation it would be wrong to fight one’s own army and police. Such a strategy, he stressed, would weaken Islamic countries and help the enemy.

The Muslim Brotherhood leader was talking to newsmen in Peshawar along with Abdur Rahim Ali, chairman of the central council of National Conference party in the Sudan, and Shaikh Siam, a leader of the Palestinian Islamic Movement Hamas living in exile in Yemen and formerly Imam of the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. They are all visiting Pakistan on the invitation of Jamaat-e-Islami to attend the party’s three-day gathering near Peshawar.

Asif Luqman Qazi, an aide to his father and JI leader Qazi Hussain Ahmad, introduced the three guests on the occasion. Abdul Ghaffar Aziz, director, foreign affairs department of the JI and special assistant to the party chief, acted as interpreter. The NWFP health minister Inayatullah Khan was also present.

Shaikh Syed Maqsood explained the origin of the Muslim Brotherhood and its policies. He said the party has been waging peaceful political struggle and creating awareness among Muslims not only in Egypt but also in other Islamic countries through its branches and sister organizations. He recalled that Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Bana had preached jehad in Palestine against the Israeli occupiers and their Western sponsors. He said the spectacular electoral success of Muslim Brotherhood recently in Egypt and that of Hamas in Palestine were glad tidings and would herald more successes in future.

Hamas leader Shaikh Siam said Palestinians were angered by Pakistan government decision to establish diplomatic contacts with Israel but the ruling PLA didn’t made a weak protest only due to its tacit support for improved ties between Islamic countries and Israeli government. "Yasser Arafat used to proudly say that he helped establish Israel’s diplomatic ties with India," he recalled. However, he said the Palestinians knew that most Pakistanis opposed friendship and diplomatic ties with Israel. "Besides, we believe in crushing the snake’s head rather than its tail," he remarked with obvious reference of fighting Israel directly instead of its new and old friends.