MEMRI has translated a Pakistani newspaper report that the Emir of the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan has addressed an anti-U.S. rally and accused the U.S. of using India to “break up Pakistan.” According to the report:
In the image above, Syed Munawwar Hasan, the Emir of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, addressed an anti-U.S. rally organized by his party in Karachi on Sunday. According to a report in the Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Jang, the Jamaat-e-Islami chief asked the Pakistani government to declare a time-table by which the army operation against the Taliban will end. Syed Munawwar Hasan added: ‘‘The Pakistan Army has become part of the American strategy. It has shut its eyes and follows American directives.’’ The anti-U.S. march was billed as ‘‘American slavery unacceptable’’ rally. The Jamaat-e-Islami leader also asked the government to explain what will be the benchmarks by which it will judge the army operation against the Taliban as successful.’’ Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani should know that he cannot conquer his own people by the use of force, he added. Asking for an end to the military operation against the Taliban, he added: ‘‘The screams of Talibanization are meant to thrust Americanization on the entire nation.’’ Syed Munawwar Hasan also told the rally that at the behest of the United States, India is on the path to break up Pakistan and by building 62 dams on rivers in Kashmir that flow into Pakistan, India has committed water aggression against Pakistan.
The JEI was founded in 1941 and is Pakistan’s oldest religious party. The party had it’s origins in the thoughts of Maulana Sayyid Abul A’la Maududi (1903-79), the most important Islamist intellectual in the history of Southeast Asia. Maududi was also a major influence on the global Muslim Brotherhood with whom the JEI has long enjoyed close relations. In the United States, the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) is generally considered to represent the JEI. A previous post discussed a 3-day Islamic conference held in late October 2008 in Lahore that brought together leaders of the JEI with leaders in the global Muslim Brotherhood. Previous posts have discussed various anti-American, anti-Indian, anti-Israeli, and anti-Semitic comments made by JEI leaders.
(Source: Roznama Jang, Pakistan, June 29, 2009)