London, UK, March 23 2009 – In a lie resembling former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s infamous 45 minute claim that was used to secure backing for the brutal invasion and occupation of Iraq, the British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on the 20th March 2009 on BBC Radio 4 that "The reason that we’re in Afghanistan is precisely because 9/11 was launched from the borderlands of Afghanistan and Pakistan". Mr Miliband made the extraordinary comments in response to the allegation that it was the presence of occupying troops which was provoking the insurgency in Afghanistan.
Responding to these warmongering statements, Taji Mustafa, media representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain said, “In the eight years since 9/11, no one suggested that Pakistan was linked to that event. Lately however, Pakistan has increasingly become the target of propaganda, transformed from prime ally to prime suspect in a manner reminiscent of the build up to the Iraq war when Western politicians fabricated evidence and misled the general public in their attempt to make the case for war.”
“Miliband’s comments mark an escalation as the British government continues to try to project Pakistan as a failed state in need of British and American intervention. The intervention of these capitalist colonialist states is the last thing Pakistan needs. These Western states have been nothing but a force for division and conflict in Pakistan, just as they have for Palestine and Iraq.”
“Moreover, Hizb ut-Tahrir asks why not one senior politician or diplomat from Pakistan has condemned this serious slur against the good name of the people of Pakistan – not Zardari, not the Sharif brothers, nor the High Commissioner to the UK, Mr Wajid Shamsul Hassan, who acts more like a spokesman for the PPP than a serious diplomat.”
“Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain will continue to expose this shameless propaganda against the good name of the people of Pakistan. Furthermore, we will continue to call the Muslim community in Britain to join us in this campaign and join the growing call for the Khilafah across the Muslim world."
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