JEI leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed meets chairman of U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, addresses ICNA conference in Baltimore

Source: Islamic Horizons, September / October 2000, p. 17

Original title: World Listens to the Powerful

Islam enjoins Muslims to attain the means of self-defense, and nuclear technology is such a tool, said Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Ameer (president) of the Jama’at-i-Islami Pakistan, in a meeting with journalists in Washington, DC, on July 11.

The Pakistani leader, who was visiting the U.S. and had earlier addressed the national convention of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) in Baltimore, MD, said Muslims or Pakistan did not invent nuclear technology, nor were they the first to acquire it. He said the Islamic code of war related conduct does not allow the use of weapons of mass destruction. But in the case of Pakistan, the acquisition of the deterrent force of nuclear technology means the establishment of peace and stability. This, he said, was insurance against its nuclear-armed foes in the region, and the entire nation opposes giving up this option. Imposing any non-nuclear regime on Pakistan alone would be discriminatory and unjust.

He stressed that when people hear the call for justice from the powerful, they listen. However, a nation cannot survive merely by attaining technological mastery, and a value-free society cannot advance.

Ahmed said that the Kashmir issue is not open to any interpretation other than being a disputed territory subject to resolution under UN auspices. He said that India should accept this fact and stop repeating the misinformation that Kashmir is an “integral” part or an “internal matter.”

It was India, he said, that took the issue to the UN, and no circumstance can change the UN ruling that it should be decided through a plebiscite. Ahmed said that the 75 year struggle of the people of Kashmir testifies to their strength; despite the hardship they continue to resist and stand firm.

He said that the U.S. should not overlook the Pakistani and Afghan contribution to the defeat of communism and the dissolution of Soviet empire. He said that U.S. had no justification to impose any sanctions on Afghanistan or Pakistan. The U.S., he stressed, must end its disinformation campaign or brandishing the “terrorist” label over Pakistan.

The Jama’at leader stressed that once Pakistan becomes a truly Islamic state, the attitude of the world Muslim community toward it will take a course for the better. He declared that an Islamic state in Pakistan would be an enlightened state, and not a replication of the Taliban experience.

Ahmed also met with Sen. Sam Brownback, chairman, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and State Department officials including Harold Koh, secretary of human rights, democracy and labor; Michael Sheehan, coordinator for counter-terrorism, and Karl Inderfurth, assistant secretary of state for South Asia.