04 October 2004	Monday	18 Shaban 1425

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PESHAWAR, Oct 3: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) has announced a full-fledged protest campaign if President Gen Pervez Musharraf does not doff his military uniform by Dec 31.

The MMA would organize public rallies in Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore after the holy month of Ramazan. And if President Gen Musharraf insisted on retaining his army post, the MMA would give calls for long march and strikes throughout the country, said Jamaat-i-Islami chief and MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmed.

Addressing a mammoth gathering on the last day of the three-day JI congregation at Azakhel Park, the JI chief vowed that the MMA did not believe in mere words, but would launch a full-fledged protest campaign till Gen Musharraf doffed his military uniform and restored democracy in the country in its true form.

If Gen Musharraf retained both the top slots, in the government and in the army, it would lead to a confrontation between the army and the people, he warned. The JI chief extended an invitation to the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) to struggle jointly with the MMA for the restoration of the 1973 Constitution in its true form.

The Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, said that President Musharraf should abide by his commitment he had made to the nation and doff his military uniform by Dec 31.

"If he is not a hypocrite like Gen Zia-ul-Haq, then he will definitely fulfil the promise made with the nation," he said. Gen Musharraf had not made the promise with the MMA secretly, but made a pledge with the nation on television, he said, and added that the time would prove whether he was a hypocrite.

On South Waziristan situation, the opposition leader said that military might should not be used against its own people. The government should take a lesson from East Pakistan where the Pakistan army used force and created Bangladesh, he said.

If the Pakistan army did not stop using its force, the same situation could be created and the government would be responsible for it, he warned. The Maulana criticized Punjab and Sindh assemblies for presenting resolutions in favour of Gen Pervez Musharraf's uniform. Both these assemblies had violated their promise made with the people and the Constitution for the sake of securing their governments, the MMA leader added.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman also accused the Bush administration for supporting 'military dictator' Gen Musharraf. On the one hand, the US and its allies toppled the dictatorial regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, on the other, they were fully supporting the 'dictator' in Pakistan.

The US hypocrisy had created problems for the entire world, he said. The US invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan and its policy on the Palestine issue had created more troubles rather than solving them.

The killings of innocent people in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and Kashmir was enough to expose the true face of US and its allies, he observed. The US and its allies wanted to usurp the economic resources of the Muslim countries; and to accomplish their nefarious designs, they captured Iraq and Afghanistan and installed their hand-picked men to run the government affairs, Maulana Fazlur Rehman said.

The US commission, in its report compiled in three years, did not nominate anyone in the 9/11 incident. This report confirmed that US and British forces' attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan were unjustified, he said.

The US and western powers were supporting Hamid Karzai, head of the Afghanistan transitional government, openly. But for others they talked about democracy, he alleged.

In the voters registration of Afghan refugees in Pakistan, the MMA leader alleged, some NGOs were enlisting bogus names on behalf of the US government to secure votes for Mr Karzai, the puppet in the hand of western powers.

The MMA leader, on the occasion, announced the nomination of JI candidate Bakhtiyar Maani for the by-election on the National Assembly seat, which is vacated due to the demise of Maulana Inayatur Rehman.

NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani also spoke in favour of the Hisba Bill and pledged to get it passed from the provincial assembly with the consent of the opposition. Mian Manzoor Ahmad Watoo, the PML leader and former chief minister of Punjab, and former ISI director-general Gen Hamid Gul also spoke to the gathering on the last day.

Earlier, the Senior Minister of the NWFP, Sirajul Haq, presented resolutions which were passed by the participants of the JI congregation. He demanded of the government to immediately stop military operation in the tribal regions and tender public apology for killing innocent people there.

Mr Haq urged the government to compensate the victims' families and rebuild the houses of tribesmen demolished by the political administration as punishment. He asked the government to abolish the draconian Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) and give tribesmen their right to appeal in the courts against the political administration decisions under the FCR.

He also urged the government to enforce Islamic laws in the tribal areas and extend the jurisdiction of the superior courts in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.