LAHORE, Jan 12: Jamaat-i-Islami amir Qazi Hussain Ahmad has said that holding of the offices of the president and the chief of the army staff by Gen Pervez Musharraf is a violation of the Constitution and he will have to leave one portfolio.

He was speaking at public meetings held in the constituencies of PP-147 and 142 to motivate people to vote for his party’s candidates to the seats, Amirul Azim and Ziauddin Ansari, here on Sunday.

The Qazi said the army wanted to permanently remain in power but to honour the constitution and serve the national interest it must defend the frontiers of the country only. The MMA did not want to share power with the army and he had conveyed this to the prime minister and Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.

He said the three-year era of Gen Musharraf should be debated in parliament. His government’s amendments to the Constitution, police order, the university ordinance and all internal and foreign policies should also be discussed there, he said.— Staff Reporter