KOHAT, July 1: Mufti Ibrar Sultan, MMA’s MNA from Kohat, who was disqualified by an election tribunal in Peshawar on Monday, has termed the verdict against him “politically motivated” to blackmail the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal which has taken a principled stand on the Legal Framework Order.

Presiding over a meeting of local leaders of the MMA here on Tuesday, Mufti Ibrar warned the government to refrain from dragging the judiciary into the political matters and using it for the victimization of the opposition.

He said that the MMA would never succumb to any kind of pressure or make compromise over the illegal amendments made in the Constitution.

He said that the whole nation was aware of the aims of the government which wanted to pressurise the MMA to accept the president in uniform and the LFO. He said that his disqualification had disappointed his 47,000 voters, but he would not let them down and fight a legal battle for their rights and the supremacy of law the and the Constitution.

Mr Ibrar pointed out that the chief election commissioner during scrutiny of the nomination papers had allowed them to contest the elections and accepted their Sanads of Wafaqul Madaris and Tanzeemul Madaris as equivalent to BA and MA. The election tribunal judgment also negated the EC’s earlier decision.

He said after holding consultations with the MMA leaders he would challenge his disqualification in Supreme Court and foil the nefarious designs of the government which was afraid of Islam just to please the west and get loans.

He said that Iftikhar Hussain Gilani would never win this seat and would be defeated even if elections were held again.

He requested the people not to take law into their hands and wait for the decision of the superior courts.

The meeting was attended by Maulana Mohammad Iqbal, Qari Akbar Ali, Maulana Shamsul Haq, Maulana Abdul Hadi, Maulana Abdul Wadood and a large number of party activists.

The MNA had boycotted the function held during the visit of President Gen Pervez Musharraf to Kohat last month.