ISLAMABAD, June 11: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA)’s women MNAs on Wednesday took a swipe at Gen Pervez Musharraf for his remarks against observance of veil in his speech at Kohat on Tuesday.

They said the president had demonstrated partiality by coming out in support of women who do not observe veil, while ignoring those who do in keeping with the tenets of their faith.

Speaking at a joint news conference at parliament house cafeteria, MNAs Dr Kausar Firdaus, Ms Aisha Munawar, Ms Shahida Akhtar Ali, Ms Jamila Ali, Ms Razia Aziz and Ms Samia Raheel Qazi said it was unbecoming of the president to ridicule veil while speaking in a province where 99 per cent women observed it without any coercion or pressure.

Dr Firdaus said it was unfair to blame the MMA government for a resolution on veil which was only submitted in the NWFP assembly, and had yet to be discussed or passed.

She said under the parliamentary norms it was every MPA’s right to move a resolution. Making it the basis for bashing Islamic edicts was disgusting, she added.

She said it was not true that plans were afoot to force women to observe veil as Islam was not a religion of coercion.

She said it was regrettable on the part of the president that he had come out in support of the women who do not observe veil but he ignored those who believe in it and its observance as an article of faith.

The MMA’s lawmaker said there was no truth in reports that the Taliban’s system was being introduced in the Frontier province, adding that while Taliban had come into power by the power of gun, “we have reached these houses through a normal democratic process.”

Samia Raheel Qazi, daughter of MMA’s Qazi Hussain Ahmed, said the critics of the MMA government only saw negative things and they never appreciated a number of welfare steps introduced by the NWFP government for protecting and upholding the rights of women.

She made a special mention of elimination of “Swara” or honour killing from the province by enacting a relevant law. She said the MMA government “does not believe in coercing anyone into adopting Islamic edicts” but it wanted to create an atmosphere where people would order their lives according to the Islamic teachings voluntarily.

Responding to a question about tearing down of hoardings depicting women’s pictures in Peshawar, she said the action was in line with the demand of international women’s movement that the womenfolk should not be made tool for advertisements.