Saeed backed group says it won't allow any NATO supplies

The Defa-e-Pakistan Council, a grouping of 40 radical groups cobbled together by LeT founder Hafiz Saeed, has warned that it will not allow even food supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan to pass through the country.

DPC chairman Maulana Sami-ul-Haq, popularly known as the "father of the Taliban", told reporters in Peshawar on Thursday that even the conditional restoration of NATO supply routes would mean the acceptance of slavery to the Americans.

This is unacceptable to the people of Pakistan, he contended.

The outfit said any move to reopen supply routes will mean the acceptance of "slavery" and "US supremacy".

"We will stop NATO supplies and if there is any mishap, the responsibility will be with the government as the Americans, on the pretext of providing protection to its supplies, will try to push its forces into Pakistan," Haq claimed.

Haq said the food items transported to US troops in Afghanistan were "un-Islamic" as the supplies included liquor and pork.

The US troops also "kill Muslims for no fault of theirs", he contended.

A meeting that the DPC plans to hold on April 15 would be a warning to "pro-US people" in Pakistan, Haq said.

The DPC was cobbled together by Lashkar-e-Tayiba founder Saeed last year, and has organised a series of protests and rallies against the US and India in recent months.

Pakistan closed the supply routes to Afghanistan in November after a cross-border NATO air strike killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

The government also forced American personnel to vacate Shamsi airbase, considered a hub for CIA-operated drones, and ordered a review of relations with the US.

A joint session of Pakistan's parliament on Thursday adopted a resolution with guidelines for resetting ties with the United States.

The resolution recommended that the government should allow only non-lethal NATO supplies to be transported through Pakistan.

DPC chairman Haq said it was regrettable that NATO supplies had continued during the regime of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf and that the current government was giving it legal shape through parliament's consent.

He claimed parliament had no right to frame policies that went against the wishes of the people and national interests.

Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mohammad Ibrahim said his party would fully support the DPC's efforts aimed at ridding Pakistan of US slavery. He asked the government to withdraw the decision to restore NATO supplies to prevent protests by the people.