Qazi threatens to boycott elections under ruling Govt
Bureau Report

KARACHI—President Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), Qazi Hussein Ahmed has said that all the opposition parties are united on one-point agenda aimed at eliminating the army’s involvement in the country’s politics, and that they will not participate in any elections to be held in the presence of President General Pervez Musharraf in future. “This time, the agenda is very clear which is to close the chapter of army’s involvement in the country’s politics forever”, Qazi said adding that the opposition parties would not accept any other general in place of General Musharraf whom “neither we accept president nor army chief”. He was addressing a press conference at the local headquarters of Jammat-e-Islami here on Monday. The MMA Karachi President Hafiz Muhammad Taqi, Allama Hassan Turabi, and JI Karachi Chief Dr Meraj-ul-Huda Sidduqi were also present. Qazi said during the recently held Leaders’ Conference in Lahore, all the opposition parties had decided to launch a joint movement against the military rule in the country with a strike call for September 9 against back-breaking inflation and increase in the petroleum prices.
The September 9 strike call, he said, was the first phase of the protest movement, which would get momentum and turn into a full-fledged movement against the army ruler after Ramadan. “Our movement will continue till the resignation of General Musharraf from the offices of president and army chief. His (Musharraf) resignation is a must for a free-fair and transparent elections in the country”, he maintained. He appealed to the masses to join hands with the opposition in connection with the strike call as it was struggling for their rights. The MMA leader ruled out the possibility of a direct clash between the army and the masses if General Musharraf refused to resign from the two offices, saying, “army cannot afford clash with a peaceful mass movement”.
“Our movement will be peaceful, and we will do our level best that the entire process of change be taken place through the parliament”, he maintained. To a question, Qazi said the opposition members of senate, national assembly and the four provincial assemblies would resign from their respective houses if needed. However, he added, the opposition’s first priority would be to settle down the issues through the parliament. He reiterated that General Musharraf had hoodwinked the nation by not fulfilling his promise of laying off the army uniform by December 31, 2004. Therefore, he had no right to either hold the office of president or army chief. Terming the recently held local bodies polls “rigged” and a “fraud” with the nation, Qazi observed that those elections had refreshed the memories of so-called referendum held by General Musharraf to “subjugate the country”.
He said the people of Karachi and rest of the country knew that who had actually won the LB polls. About Pakistan’s diplomatic ties with Israel, JI chief termed the meeting between Pakistani and Israeli foreign ministers in Istanbul a step towards recognition of the Jewish state. “The PML(Q) before supporting General Musharraf on this issue should not forget that since from 1933 to 1947, all the meetings of All India Muslim League had passed consecutive resolutions against Israel”, Qazi said quoting the famous sentence of the country’s first prime minister Khan Liaquat Ali Khan “ Gentlemen our souls are not for sale” which he had told the leaders of Jewish Congress in America in response to a huge aid offer if Pakistan recognized Israel. He said the government was befooling the nation by saying that the Arabs had accepted Israel. “This is a white lie as some 50 Islamic countries have not recognised the Zionist state. And if Pakistan thinks that by recognising Israel, Pakistan can break its ties with India, this is a stupid thinking as Pakistan despite toeing all the American policies, could not break the Indo-US ties”, he opined. This, he said, was also a wrong impression that Arab countries had not helped Pakistan in testing times. In fact, he said, the Gulf states, especially Saudi Arabia had always lend extraordinary financial support to Pakistan in the need of hour, he added.