NOWSHEHRA, Aug 31: Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal Secretary-General Maulana Fazlur Rehman has asked Gen Pervez Musharraf to refrain from what he termed fuelling hatred among the provinces on regional basis.

Speaking to the provincial council of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam at Madressah Tehsinul Quran here on Sunday, the Maulana, who also holds the office of JUI-F chief, deplored a statement of Gen Musharraf regarding the construction of Kalabagh dam. Three provincial assemblies had adopted unanimous resolutions against the controversial project in the past, he added.

More than 500 JUI-F council members, provincial ministers, MNAs, MPAs and senators attended the meeting and discussed political and the organizational matters. Provincial JUI-F chief Maulana Amanullah presided over the meeting.

During his visit to Sindh, Maulana Fazl said, Gen Musharraf had told the flood-affected villagers in Badin that Kalabagh dam would be constructed for irrigation purposes.

What massage Gen Musharraf passed on to Sindhis, he asked.

He said a fresh debate on this dead issue was aimed at dividing the nation on ethnic lines. He alleged that Gen Musharraf wanted to prolong his dictatorship at the cost of national unity, but his personal designs would fail.

The MMA, he said, was not against the Legal Framework Order, but it wanted to get it tabled in parliament. If the government succeeded in getting the LFO passed with the two-third majority, the MMA would accept it as part of the Constitution. Otherwise, he said, it would be tossed out from parliament.

The JUI chief said that all the leading Islamic jurists had issued an edict against the dispatch of Pakistan military troops to Iraq under the American military command.

Pakistani troops under the US command to kill Iraqi Muslim would be opposed, he said and added: “It is un-Islamic to place the Muslims under the command of infidels,” he added.