MMA threatens agitation to oust Musharraf

The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) alliance has threatened to launch an agitation from December 17 in an attempt to oust President General Pervez Musharraf from power if the package to amend the constitution is not presented before parliament within a month.

The Supreme Council of the MMA, which met here late on Monday night, said the alliance had waited too long for the government to fulfil its promise of bringing in the bill at the National Assembly.

MMA chairman Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani, Secretary General Maulana Fazal-ur Rehman and Qazi Hussain were among the leaders who attended.

Noorani said: "We have talked to them for 11 months. On September 6, we prepared a consensus draft in a meeting with a government team led by Senator S.M. Zafar. The government promised to present this bill in the parliament, but it never kept this promise."

Qazi Hussain Ahmed said that any MMA movement will not be anti-army.

"We are not against the army," he said. "In fact we want to provide them relief so that they can concentrate on their actual duty of guarding the country's frontiers. "We are peaceful people. We do not want to create anarchy in the country." The MMA has accused Musharraf of vetoing the draft to ensure the supremacy of the parliament. The MMA wants Musharraf to resign from the post of army chief and be elected president through parliament – a demand refused by the government. Ahmed said that the MMA was willing to form alliances with other political parties to remove Musharraf from power.

Rehman said Musharraf was the only obstacle in an agreement between the MMA and the Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam. "His attitude is negative and unconstitutional. We condemn his individual dictatorship," he said. The MMA leaders also criticised Musharraf for his pro-US policies. "Islamic Jehadi (holy warrior) groups are being targeted to appease the Americans".

As a mark of defiance, the Jamaat-e-Islami collected funds in Karachi to support the jihad in Kashmir on Monday.

Noorani said that the crackdown on outlawed militant groups which had resurfaced under new names was "a highly condemnable" action. "There is no justification to impose a ban on Islami Tehreek or arrest Allama Sajid Naqvi – a central MMA leader."

"We wonder why the government sees only Islamic and religious organisations as terrorists?" Noorani said.