01 October 2004	Friday	15 Shaban 1425

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PESHAWAR, Sept 30: Jamaat-i-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed has accused the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of sponsoring a campaign to dislodge the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) government in the NWFP which, according to him, is not a good omen for the solidarity of Pakistan.

He was speaking at the launching ceremony of a book compiled by Senior Minister Sirajul Haq about the performance of the MMA government in the last two years, at the Peshawar Press Club on Thursday.

The Jamaat leader that MMA lawmakers were being summoned by intelligence people and forced to change their loyalties. But the MMA was stable like a mountain and its enemies would in their efforts against the religious alliance, which according to him was a last hope of a social change in the country.

He said the MMA had caused a dent in the centuries-old feudal-dominated political and social system and introduced a new culture of brotherhood in the province. The MMA leadership was fully satisfied with the performance of its government in the province, he said, adding that the MMA ministers were from the ordinary people and they were easily accessible to the common man, he added.

Qazi Hussain, who is also acting president of the MMA, said it would be difficult for the rulers to divide the MMA body or dislodge its government in the NWFP, the MMA had carved its way in Punjab and Sindh.

In future, the alliance would also form governments in the two provinces. The MMA was a true representative party of the general public, he said and added that as long as its component parties were united, no power could dislodge the Durrani-led government in the NWFP, he added.

Commenting on the book, the JI chief termed it a necessary and timely assessment of the performance of their government. He advised the government to publish more books and pamphlets on the performance of the government.

Giving his opinion about the 116-page book, Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani said the compiler had missed many provincial projects, which he expressed the hope would be included in its next edition.

During the last 57 years, he said, none of the governments had dared publish its performance in black and white. This credit went to the MMA government, which had offered the public to look into its deeds and make comments, he added.

He told the meeting that Lowari and Malakand tunnels would be built in the tenure of the MMA government. "I have asked the department concerned to prepare the feasibility report of the Malakand tunnel forthwith and present it in the cabinet. We are trying to provide natural gas to Swat, Dir, Buner and Chitral districts."

Mr Durrani said his government would turn millions of acres in the southern district into a long cultivated belt if it was provided with Rs40 billion as soft-term loan.

A vast area, which had no water, could be used by making dams and constructing canals. It would make us self-sufficient in wheat and rice, and the NWFP would be providing these commodities to Sindh and Balochistan, but the province needed some financial aid, he added.

The senior minister said he had tried to summarize facts and figures to facilitate easy reading. The book was compiled to seek people's guidance in future, he said and expressed the hope that people would help him streamline the facts in future.

The Provincial Public Services Commission Chairman, Abdullah, said he was heading a state institution which had nothing to do with the government, but none of the minister had ever sought any sort of favouritism.