ISLAMABAD, 19 March 2003 — Islamists and newspapers in Pakistan yesterday scorned the US decision to invade Iraq without United Nations approval, accusing Washington of endangering the UN and warning of protracted campaigns like the 17-month operation in Afghanistan.
“This is a war on peace,” secretary-general of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), Maulana Fazlur Rehman, declared. “America stands miserably isolated because of Bush’s war madness,” he told AFP after President George W. Bush gave Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein a 48-hour ultimatum to leave Iraq or face attack.
“There is absolutely no legal or moral justification for the United States to launch any military action against Iraq,” he added.
Fazlur Rehman called on China, Russia, France and Germany to stand up to the US with military action. “The only way to stop the Americans is to use force against them.”
Portraying an attack on Iraq as an attack on the Muslim world, parties constituting the MMA this month led two massive anti-war rallies, drawing some 300,000 people onto the streets. “Can the world community allow one country and its leader to impose by brute force his will on other people?” asked MMA Sen. Khurshid Ahmed.
Security forces are bracing for a possible backlash from the imminent US-led invasion. “We expect reaction in the form of demonstrations and possible acts of sabotage in case of war,” a senior Interior Ministry official said. “We are taking additional measures to further tighten protection” of the US and other diplomatic missions.
The Dawn newspaper accused Bush and his closest ally British Prime Minister Tony Blair of “virtually holding a gun to the world body’s head.” “They have both treated it with a contempt that brings to one’s mind the treatment meted out to the League of Nations by European dictators in the thirties,” it wrote.
Shireen Mazari, head of Pakistan’s Institute of Strategic Studies, said: “The ultimatum is proof that they do not have any respect for the world opinion. They have indicated that they do not want to abide by the international norms, and I think this is a sad day for the world.”
Pakistan State Oil (PSO) said there were enough oil stocks to last up to 20 days if supplies were cut. “There is no panic buying at the moment and in case the war erupts in Iraq, we’ll be able to meet demand,” PSO divisional manager Asif Alam said.
