MFN status: Jamaatud Dawa protests against India

Says government compromising on Kashmir.


Express November 25, 2011

LAHORE: Jamaatud Dawa (JuD), the banned group said to be behind the Mumbai terrorist attack of November 2008, staged a rally here on Thursday demanding that the government withdraw its decision to grant India most-favoured nation (MFN) status as a trading partner.

Hundreds took part in the ‘Istehkam-i-Pakistan Karwan’ rally from Minar-i-Pakistan to Nasser Bagh. They included tractor trolley-riding and shovel-wielding farmers from the JD farmer’s wing, lawyers and Jamaat-i-Islami leaders.

Addressing the protestors, various speakers accused India of committing atrocities in Kashmir and said the government should not move to normalise ties until the Kashmir issue had been resolved.

JD leader Professor Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki said the government had granted India MFN status on America’s instructions. He accused President Asif Zardari of compromising with India over the deaths of hundreds of Muslims in Kashmir. He said Indian spies would enter Pakistan and continue the work of Raymond Davis. “India has taken hold of Pakistan’s five rivers and the Pakistani government has declared it a most-favoured nation,” he complained.

JD Hurmat-i-Rasool convener Maulana Ameer Hamza said JD would not allow India to transform Pakistan into a barren land. He said Pakistanis hated India and wanted revenge against it, so they would never accept it as a favoured trading partner.

Former Lahore Bar Association secretary Abdul Latif Sarra said the government should not grant India MFN status. He said Pakistani lawyers were with the JD against India and would not rest till Kashmir was free.

JUI-Sami leader Makhdoom Manzoor Ahmed, Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat secretary general Maulana Muhammad Akram and Jamaat-i-Islami leader Amirul Azeem also addressed the protesters.

During the rally, traffic on Circular Road, GT Road, Ravi Road, the Lower Mall and Outfall Road was jammed. The protest ended at 5pm but the traffic woes continued for another two hours.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25th, 2011.

COMMENTS (2)

Muhammad Khalid Butt | 12 years ago | Reply

Ameer Jamatud Dawa (Hafiz Muhammad Saeed Sahib) & Prof. Hafiz Abdurrehman Makki are requested to hold an exclusive meeting of the parents of those young ones who are in different Indian jails since long.

Muhammad Khalid Butt | 12 years ago | Reply

May I respectfully bring it to your kind notice that Jamatud Dawa has never shown any concern about the Pakistani prisoners who are languishing in different Indian jails. It was their moral duty to inform the parents about their sons who are behind the bars. Jamat has forgotten them. I am doing my best efforts at my own for the release/repatriation of all Pakistani prisoners who are confined/detained in different Indian jails. I have been writing to Prof.Bhim Singh, Honorable Judges of the Supreme Court of India, Chief Justice of J & K, Ministry of External Affairs & Home Ministry of India, Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar, Senator Dr. A.Rehman Malik, Senator Muhammad Talah Mahmood, Mr. Kaldeep Nayyer and many other influential persons on this issue. I am also in touch with Mr. Awais Sheikh Advocate Lahore High Court who is visiting New Delhi (India) shortly to follow up the case of Pakistani prisoners. I have talked to your responsible on various occasion to deliver my message to you & Hafiz Muhammad Saeed Sahib but I do not know whether communicated to you or otherwise. I request you to hold an exclusive meeting of the parents whose sons were sent on Jihad by your Jammat and apprise them about the latest status of their case. What Jamat is doing for them or for their Parents in Pakistan.

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