JI chief flays legislators

The unanimous adoption of the Parliament's resolution on Nato supplies proved that lawmakers were giving preference to the US interests over national interest, Ameer of Jamaat-i-Islami Syed Munawar Hasan said on Friday. Addressing a large Friday congregation at the Mansoora Mosque here, he termed PML-N and Maulana Fazlur Rehman's switching over to the US camp a tragedy and said that they had lost their semblance of opposition.
He said that the real problem faced by the country was US interference and not unemployment or price hike. The country's budget, he said, was being prepared by the IMF, which was adopting various tactics to cripple the national economy. The burden of taxes on the masses was being increased while the rich remained untaxed.
Syed Munawar Hasan, however, declared that the JI and Difa-e-Pakistan Council would go to any extent to stop Nato supplies, insisting that neither of them would allow Pakistan's soil to be used for killing Afghan people. The JI, he said, had repeatedly tried to stop the rulers from adopting this path but it seemed that they had been "blinded by the glitter of dollars" and were "mere US slaves", least concerned with national solidarity or dignity. He said that thousands of people would be there to block roads used for Nato supplies and be ready to lay down their lives.
He appealed to truck and tanker drivers not to be a party to the killing of the Afghan people. He pointed out that Maulana Fazlur Rehman had been expressing sympathies with the Taliban till the end but changed his mind after a single meeting with the US envoy and President Zardari.
Likewise, PML-N's Chaudhry Nisar had been talking much against Nato supplies but finally "joined the club of US slaves". The JI Ameer said that Prime Minister Gilani had assured the nation that this resolution would be implemented in letter and spirit. He said the nation wanted to ask the Prime Minister whether the two resolution previously adopted by parliament were thrown into wastepaper basket just because they were against US interest. He warned that if the government did not announce elections by October, no body could stop a revolution in the country.