* MMA local leaders call for Jihad to ‘stop aggression by infidels’ * Says protection of holy places in Iraq duty of every Muslim
Staff Report
PESHAWAR: The MMA leadership on Friday said that Pakistan’s nuclear arsenals would serve as deterrence for the defence of the entire Muslim world if their party came to power.
Speaking at an anti-war rally here, the MMA leaders and parliamentarians said Pakistan was a nuclear power but the “coward leaders” were reluctant to use the nuclear deterrence for the protection of the Muslim world. “After coming to power the MMA will use the nuclear deterrence for the defence of all the Muslim countries,” said Mufti Kifayatullah, the chairman of the Nifaz-e-Sharia Council (NSC), which is formed to forward viable recommendations to the NWFP government for the Islamisation of the province.
Around 4,000 MMA activists from different parts of the city and its suburbs came in the form of small processions to join the main rally at the Qissa Khwani Bazaar. The demonstrators chanted anti-US slogans, burnt the effigies of President Bush, Prime Minister Blair and the flags of Britain and the United States. The protesters attentively listened to the speeches of the MMA leaders despite heavy rain.
Other MMA leaders who addressed the rally were Jalil Jan, MNA Maulana Fayyazur Rehman Alvi, MNA Rehmatullah Khalil and Senator Nek Zaman. They called upon the Muslims all over the world to wage Jihad against the forces of United States and Britain fighting in Iraq, saying, “the Jihad has become obligatory to stop the aggression of infidels.”
Iraq, they said, was a sacred land where the shrines of Sahaba (companions of Prophet Muhammad PBUH) and Hazrat Imam Hussain (nephew of Prophet Muhammad PBUH) were situated and the defence of the Holy land was the religious duty of every Muslim. They said the US first attacked Afghanistan to capture the natural resources of the Central Asia and had now attacked Iraq to get control of its oilfields.
The MMA leaders lamented that America was out to eliminate Islam and occupy its holy places in the Arab world, but the Muslim rulers were not showing courage to oppose its aggression.
The rally passed several resolutions, condemning the US invasion of Iraq and expressing solidarity with Iraqis. In a resolution they demanded of the Muslim rulers to sever ties with the US and its allies. In another resolution they demanded a joint force of Muslim countries to defend Muslims around the world.