The Jamaat-e-Islami and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) asked the federal government on Saturday to end the army operation in the South Waziristan Agency. A meeting of the NWFP PML-N passed a unanimous resolution demanding an immediate end to the operation. Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, PML-N provincial secretary general, regretted the âuse of the Pakistan Army against its own people for the protection of American interestsâ. He condemned the arrest of PML-N FATA Secretary Advocate Ghalib Khan Wazir and others and demanded their immediate release. âAll of Pakistanâs institutions have been destroyed and our army is fighting for American interests,â he said. Mr Jhagra also criticised the governmentâs support for the US to oust the Taliban government. He regretted that around 57,000 sorties were carried out from Pakistan when the US attacked Afghanistan. âThe federal finance minister is imported from the US while the foreign and interior ministers are advocating American interests,â he said.
Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami Provincial Deputy Secretary General Zar Noor Afridi said the tribal people would be forced to carry out suicide bombings if the government did not stop the operation in Waziristan. Mr Afridi, who was also a member of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amalâs fact-finding mission that was not allowed into the agency a few days ago, ruled out the presence of Al Qaeda or Taliban elements in the province or the tribal areas. He said law enforcement agencies had conducted three operations in the tribal areas in the past with the help of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) but failed to arrest any Al Qaeda suspects. He lashed out at a statement by Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad that 10 key Al Qaeda members had been killed in the operation. âIf this is so, then why is the minister reluctant to disclose their names and nationalities?â Mr Afridi asked. Mr Afridi said neither the provincial government nor the paramilitaries deployed in the area were informed about the operation. He claimed a large number of Afghan refugees were killed and many others, including tribesmen, arrested in the operation. He also accused the federal government of killing and disgracing people only to âplease its Western masters in order to receive aid or loanâ.
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