Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Pakistan Chief Syed Munawar Hassan has described the Kerry-Lugar Bill as an affront to the national honour and mortgaging the country's independence and sovereignty. The Kerry-Lugar Bill is a big tragedy and parliament should reject it out rightly. He was talking to media at Lahore airport after returning from his five-day visit from Sudan on the invitation of the Sudanese President.
Munawar said that the JI would emerge as the nation's voice against this sell out and would launch a country-wide movement against it by holding train march road caravans, protest meetings, seminars and rallies to educate the masses about the disastrous effects of this bill.
It was shocking, he said that the ruling party was jubilant over the passage of the bill and considered it a big success. He said that out of the promised aid of $1.5 billion, Pakistan would get only $170 million while the remaining amount would be spent on the activities of the NGO's and the expansion of the US embassy in Islamabad and the installation of an intelligence net work there, that would be, in fact, a mini Pentagon and a Guantanamo type torture cell.
Munawar Hassan described his visit to Sudan as highly successful and said that Sudanese President Hasan Umar Al Basheer, cabinet ministers and the ruling party expressed deep love for Pakistan. Delegates from 53 countries attended the annual conference at Khartoum.
He said that the Sudanese government had foiled the conspiracies of the Western powers to create unrest in Western Sudan. However, he said Russia had begun efforts to resolve the Darfar and other issues at the conference which was held in Moscow and it would counter the US designs in that country. Replying to a question he said that PML-N leader Nwaz Sharif was not in a position to contest the elections and wanted to be elected unopposed.
To another question, he said that the PPP did not have the political or moral courage to bring the NRO in the parliament as both PPP and MQM leaders had benefited from the NRO. He demanded that all these people should be tried and benefits given to them should be withdrawn. Munawar also said that MQM was a terrorist organisation, which could not sit in the opposition because of its crimes.