Chief Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Syed Munawar Hasan has strongly condemned the fresh raise in the POL prices and termed it as totally unjustified. In a press statement here on Tuesday, he demanded immediate withdrawal of this raise. The government, he said, has already raised POL prices to the level of 148 dollars per barrel while it is being sold in the world market at 70 dollars per barrel.
The prices had been slightly slashed only when the world prices came down to 50 dollars per barrel. He said the fresh raise would result in price hike of all commodities of daily use as well. Munawar also condemned the threats by US President and the British Prime Minister to Pakistan and said this was simply due to the weakness of the rulers and armed force against the Americans, as the US has defeated in Afghanistan and now wants to put blame on Islamabad.
The situation, he said, demanded of the rulers to stop military operation in tribal belt forthwith and take the nation into confidence, and bridge the gap between the people and the armed forces. "If the government takes a bold step and pulls themselves out of the US war, the 180 million Pakistanis would stand shoulder to shoulder with their army," he said.
While criticising the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's statement that Pakistan has to prove its capability to face al Qaeda, he said the US and Nato forces, despite being well equipped and latest technology, have not been able to trace Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan so far, then how they could ask Pakistan to do that.
Syed Munawar Hasan pointed out that according to the US Senate Foreign Affairs Committee report, Aimanul Zawahari and Osama had been within the target of the US army but Ramsfield did not permit to target them. Similarly, Osama bin Laden had been apprehended in Tora Bora but the US intentionally let him escape. This clearly showed the US designs to continue exposing Osama bin Laden a great threat in order to prolong the war against terror which is actually war against Islam, particularly against Pakistan to take over its nuclear facility.
The JI chief said that the US President and the British Premier seemed to have lost their senses due to their humiliating defeat in Afghanistan and were therefore hurling threats to Islamabad. He said if the Pakistani rulers had stood up against the US threats like Iran and disallowed drone attacks on the very first day, the present situation would not be created.