09 March 2005	Wednesday	27 Muharram 1426

KARACHI, March 8: The president of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, has said military rulers had endangered the political and ideological borders of the country , and said he believed that Pakistani women would not allow the efforts of the rulers to tarnish the Islamic identity of the country.

Qazi, who is also chief of the Jamaat-i-Islami, was addressing a protest rally organised by the party's women wing on Tuesday on the M.A. Jinnah Road against increasing poverty, price hike, unemployment, secular policies, and obscenity under government patronage. A large number of women along with their children attended the rally.

He pointed out the failure of judiciary to dispense justice, and the police's failure to provide protection to people, who he said were feeling insecure due to the military dictatorship.

He said women were being deprived of their rights given to them by Islam, while the culprits committing excesses against women were being protected instead of being put behind bars. Giving the example of Dr Shazia Khalid, he said she remained deprived of justice because of the sardars and army generals, who were both protecting the real culprits.

Recalling the U-turns of Gen Pervez Musharraf, Qazi said that by raising the slogan of Pakistan first, he sided with the US against Afghanistan, and then by using the terminology of 'enlightened and moderation', he was presenting such a version of Islam, which was acceptable to Europe and the US. After politics, he was now taking a cultural U-turn.