HYDERABAD, March 20: Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal president Qazi Hussain Ahmad has asked President Gen Pervez Musharraf to step down so that a new government can be formed. Speaking at a large gathering at the Bagh-i-Mustafa ground on Saturday night as part of the alliance’s million-march, he said Gen Musharraf had no legal right to remain the president as well as chief of army staff after Dec 31, 2004. “We will not accept an army general and any change of a civilian government should be ensured constitutionally. After reneging on his promises made with the MMA and then his televised address, Gen Musharraf is neither the COAS nor a constitutional president”, Mr Ahmad maintained.

He said that the people of Sindh were against the regime which claimed to have brought about an economic revolution although the common man was groaning under price hike.

He accused the president of selling the country’s educational system to the Aga Khan Education Board to secularize minds of the new generation by conspiring to delete Islamic literature and ideology from syllabus as well as interfering in Madressahs by handing over their control to bureaucrats.

Criticizing Gen Musharraf for taking what he called a U-turn on policies regarding Afghanistan and Mujahideen’s struggle, he said the government had deleted religion’s column from passport because these initiatives were part of a compromise package struck with the US.

He maintained that the president would introduce a European and American society here and render Hudood and Blasphemy laws ineffective by amending them for being discriminatory.

MMA secretary-general Maulana Fazalur Rehman said the MMA was ready to lead the Ummah following subjugation of Muslim rulers and offer a helping hand to oppressed Muslims of Iraq and Afghanistan who were massacred by colonial powers. “President Musharraf’s policies are not binding on the MMA”, he added.

Referring to the situations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, he said a wrong comparison was being drawn. “Bloodshed of innocent and unarmed people in Iraq and Afghanistan is termed as peace while military operations in Waziristan Agency and Balochistan are being attributed to war on terror”, he said.

MMA MNA Abdul Khair Mohammad Zubair, Allama Sajid Naqvi, MPA Abdul Rehman Rajput, Sindh MMA general-secretary Dr Khalid Mehmood Soomro, Abdul Waheed Qureshi, Senator Rahat Gul and others also spoke on the occasion.

Our Nawabshah Correspondent adds: Earlier, speaking at a gathering at the Sahafi Chowk, Sakrand, Mr Ahmad said the MMA would continue its struggle till dissolution of the government.

He claimed that Gen Musharraf had tried to fail the million-march but the masses had shown their support to the MMA.

He informed the participants that the MMA would hold similar marches in Rawalpindi, Lahore, Peshawar on March 22, 23 and 28 respectively.

The alliance’s secretary-general observed that there was no democracy in the country and the Constitution was being violated.

Allama Naqvi urged people to support the MMA because it wanted to solve their problems.