KARACHI, July 27: Chief of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) Qazi Hussein Ahmed has said that if Gen Musharraf is against terrorism, he should get the ‘no-go’ areas in Karachi reopened and killers of ulema arrested.

He was addressing the general workers convention of Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), Karachi chapter, at Shuhada Ground (Tanki Ground) here on Tuesday.

Qazi Hussein, who is also Amir of JI, asked workers to allay fear of violence among people and convince them to come out for casting vote in the forthcoming local bodies polls, saying that anti-Islamic elements wanted masses to remain indoors on polling day.

“These elements fear that if people in great number cast their votes, then only pro-Islamic parties will sweep the elections,” he said.

He quoted Gen Musharraf as telling the nation in his televised address a few days back that they should vote for moderate forces, and pointed out that the general had also lauded the performance of former Karachi nazim Niamatullah Khan and his team several a times during the speech. This, the MMA chief observed, proved that the general had asked people to support Al-Khidmat group.

He said that the election commission had been apprised of the violation of the code of conduct announced. However, he added, no action had been taken in this regard so far.

About Hasba Bill, the MMA chief said it was a step towards establishing an institution for implementing the already existing Islamic laws in the country, adding that the bill was in line with the Objectives Resolution.—PPI