ISLAMABAD, 1 August 2006 — Top leaders of the Islamic opposition, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), which controls one provincial government in the Northwestern Frontier Province, have jointly condemned the role of the United Nation for not moving against Israel in its continuous military campaigns against Lebanon.
Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Jamaat-e-Islami leader, and Maulana Fazalur Rehman of the Jamiat-e-Ulemai Islam, issued a statement saying that Israel’s aggression is no longer directed simply at Muslims but people of different faiths in Lebanon.
Ahmad also criticized the UN for its response to Israel’s bombing of Lebanon. “It is no longer an international organization that can uphold high principles of international law,” he said. The two men jointly announced that the MMA’s provincial and district offices have enrolled over 100,000 volunteers who intend to proceed to Lebanon. “Those volunteers who have enrolled with MMA have expressed their determination to halt Israeli terrorism,” said Ahmad.
Meanwhile Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao told journalists in Islamabad yesterday that the government is working to prevent a flood of such volunteers from going to Lebanon.
“We cannot send volunteers to Lebanon,” said the minister, accusing the MMA of exploiting the situation in Lebanon. “We have instructed border authorities to screen all travelers’ documents.”
Addressing a public rally at Chakwal yesterday, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf once again warned the world community of a bigger conflict in the Middle East if the permanent members of the UN Security Council did not check Israel.
Musharraf condemned the Israeli attacks on Lebanon and called for an immediate cease-fire. “Peace cannot be ensured in the Middle East without resolving the Palestinian issue,” Musharraf said while underlining the need for peaceful and negotiated resolution of the crisis.
The Pakistani government had also strongly condemned the “unwarranted” Israeli attack Sunday that killed dozens of Lebanese, more than half of them children, in the village of Qana.
Musharraf or Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will also attend an extraordinary summit of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur on Aug. 3 to discuss the crisis.
