HYDERABAD, Dec 26: Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal president Allama Shah Ahmed Noorani has criticized the appointment of Dr Ishratul Ibad as the governor of Sindh and urged the political forces to protest against his appointment.
Speaking at the meet the press programme of the Hyderabad press club here on Wednesday, he said that the MMA would not give vote of confidence to the prime minister, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, but added that the MMA was ready to give more time to the government to reconsider its demands.
He said that the reins of a sensitive province like Sindh were being handed over to those, whose loyalties were doubtful.
He said that the MMA would talk to other political parties for launching a joint peaceful protest against the appointment of Dr Ibad as the Sindh governor.
Maulana Noorani wondered whether Dr Ibad would take oath under the 1973 Constitution, which had been rejected by him and his party in countless statements.
Criticizing the government for appointing a “criminal and terrorist man” as the governor of Sindh, he said that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement leadership had sought asylum in London on the ground that the Pakistan had become a centre of atrocities and tyranny.
He said that the Muttahida had been officially accused of being the Indian agent and striving for the establishment of Jinnahpur.
He said that the Muttahida had given support of its 17 votes to Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali in the National Assembly on the ground that its’s opponents would be targeted and subjected to atrocities.
He said that in the sacred month of Ramazan, the opponents of the Muttahida were displaced in Karachi, and asked that what would happen with the opponents of the Muttahida when it would rule the province.
The MMA leader clarified that some political parties were trying to prevent a ‘criminal’ from becoming the governor and not opposing the appointment of an Urdu-speaking man on the post, adding that Sindh, in the past, had an Urdu-speaking governor.
To a question, he said that there was a big difference between the nature of cases against the activists of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F and those of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement as the Muttahida workers were facing cases of terrorism, murders and extortion whereas the MMA activists were implicated in false cases at the behest of the US for supporting the Afghan Jihad.
He severely criticised the horse-trading in the Sindh Assembly and said that the MMA MPA had become the deputy speaker of the assembly but the Sindh governor had extended the time for submission of nomination forms with malafide intentions.
Deploring the police action at the Sindh Assembly, he said that the women were subjected to violence and MPAs were held hostages inside the assembly.
He said that the MMA was not ready to accept the president in uniform, the National Security Council, Article 58(2)b of the Constitution and certain clauses of the Legal Framework Order.
Maulana Noorani said that a procedure had been laid down in the Constitution for introducing amendments, which should be adopted for the purpose.
He demanded that President Gen Pervez Musharraf should get himself elected constitutionally.
The MMA MNA, Sahibzada Abul Khair Mohammad Zubair, MPA Abdul Rehman Rajput and others were present on the occasion.
SUC: The chairman of the Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party, Dr Qadir Magsi, on Thursday urged the people of Sindh to participate in the protest to be held here on Friday against the appointment of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s nominee, Ishratul Ibad as the governor of Sindh.
Magsi, who is one of the leaders of the Sindhi Unity Committee (SUC), termed the appointment of the Muttahida’s nominee a deep rooted conspiracy against Sindh and the first step towards the imposition of the governor’s rule in the province.
He said that he was amazed that the federation was unable to find anyone else from the 50 million population of Sindh, and had summoned someone, whom he described as being an absconder, from London for this august post.
He said that all of the component parties of the Sindhi Unity Committee would stage a demonstration outside the Hyderabad Press Club at 3pm on Friday against the appointment of Ishratul Ibad as the Sindh governor.
