PESHAWAR: Announcing a fund raising campaign for the Palestinian government, NWFP Senior Minister Sirajul Haq on Wednesday urged the federal government to extend financial support to the Palestinians. Talking to reporters upon his return from Iran after attending the Al-Quds Conference, Haq said that the conference was held at a time when Israel and the US were creating hurdles in the way of the new Palestinian government. He congratulated Iran for the conference, saying it had fulfilled a “sacred duty”.He said that Pakistan was the only Muslim country that did not attend the conference, which was attended by the representatives of 67 countries and the speakers of parliament from 19 countries. “The absence of the Pakistani flag was noticed by everyone attending the event,” he said. Siraj said that Hamas had won an overwhelming majority in the general elections, despite opposition from the US and Israel. He said that Hamas’s victory in the elections represented the trust that Palestinians put in the party’s leadership. He said that the West had refused to accept the verdict of the Palestinian people because the new government refused to end Jihad against the Israeli subjugation. “The people of Pakistan would not shy away from making any sacrifice for their Muslim brethren,” he said. He said that he had assured the Iranian president other Iranian leaders of the support of the Pakistani people in case of any US aggression against Iran.