HYDERABAD, Sept 23: The Naib Amir, Jamaat-i-Islami, and Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) leader, Prof Ghafoor Ahmed, has called upon the people not to treat the October 10 election as just another election because Pakistan was in grave danger and the voters must make the correct choice this time.

He was addressing an election meeting under the aegis of the MMA in unit No11, Latifabad, on Sunday night.

Prof Ghafoor Ahmed warned the people against the perpetrators of the Sept 30, 1988 carnage and those who had given the nation 25,000 bodies saying that they were again trying to take the people to the darkest alley.

He pointed out that it was during the regime of Gen Ziaul Haq that the extremist parties had come into existence.

He said the armed forces had nothing to do with politics because their job was to defend the motherland, and added that the armed forces were not only weakening themselves but also the country.

He said that President Pervez Musharraf had pushed the country back at least by four decades.

He said if Nawaz Sharif had removed the chief of the army staff (COAS), it was his constitutional right, but the army had refused to accept the decision of the prime minister.

He said that even if Nawaz Sharif had erred in his decision, the entire nation should not have been punished and the assemblies should not have been dissolved.

On the Kargil issue, Prof Ghafoor said that President Pervez Musharraf had refused to be pressurized by the US and accept the orders of the prime minister but after the Sept 11 incident, he accepted all the dictates of the US.

He claimed that only religious parties had opposed the decision of President Pervez Musharraf to take a U-turn on the Afghanistan policy.

He held President Musharraf responsible for the bloodshed of the innocent people of Afghanistan along with the US.

He recalled that it was the Sindh Assembly which had approved the Pakistan Resolution, which had been tabled by none other than G. M. Syed.

He said that the Mohajirs did not become a burden on Sindh but made Sindh prosperous.

He pointed out that when the Mohajir Quami Movement (MQM) was formed, Altaf Hussain was not in Pakistan; but when he came back from the US, the All Pakistan Mohajir Students Organization had been converted into the MQM.

He said the MQM swept the polls and slogans of “Benazir-Altaf Hussain Bahen Bhai” and “Nawaz-Altaf Bhai Bhai” were also raised.

He said the MQM had given nothing to the people during the last 15 years and forgotten all its promises.

Prof Ghafoor said that after failing to maintain unity among the Mohajirs, it had now re-named the party as the Muttahida Quami Movement and entered into an alliance with separatist elements.

He said Altaf Hussain had no political acumen.