KARACHI, Dec 11: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal chief, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, has said that if the next general election is called by Gen Musharraf, holding two offices of President and Chief of the Army Staff, under the present setup of election commission, they would not participate in the elections.

Under the supervision of present election commission, fair election could not be held, he said in response to a question by Dawn following his press conference at Idara Noor-i-Haq on Sunday.

MMA chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad earlier termed the by-election held on Saturday in two constituencies of the Sindh Assembly from Karachi “bogus”.

During the press conference, he said that although there was no more than five per cent turn out, it had been shown as 45 per cent. He said the outcome of the by-election had proved that MMA’s decision to boycott the election was right.

In reply to a question, he said that he would place the idea of boycotting the next general election, if called under the present setup, before other parties in the opposition.

Referring to the incidents of violence in educational institutions of Karachi and manhandling of teachers in Karachi University, DJ Science college, and Premier college, he said although it was matter of concern but from the attitude of the government it appeared that Gen Musharraf had given free hand to the MQM because of its US patronage to create atmosphere of hooliganism in the country to block the democratic process.

About Kalabagh Dam, he said that the real issue was distribution of water. Though an agreement had reached between all four provinces about their share, there was no fool-proof arrangement to satisfy each province that they would get their due share.

He said that there was urgent need to build water reservoirs to save rainy water from going waste. However, he stressed that the government should take all into confidence, address their reservations and compensate them.

Terming the present government continuity of martial law, Qazi Hussain said the parliament had been made ineffective in every affair, as neither the parliament nor the cabinet was taken into confidence in sensitive matter of the quake tragedy and its relief efforts. The matter was taken up in the National Security Council where all decisions were taken and all relief work was handed over to the army which was not accountable to anyone.

He said all this indicated that the country was being run in an autocratic manner.

The attempt to form a parliamentary committee to supervise the relief efforts was made under pressure and condition of the aid of the World Bank and the European Union, which had asked for complete transparency in distribution of relief to the quake victims.

The MMA chief said that if the government was sincere in making the committee powerful, conditions of the opposition to bring its decision of heading the relief efforts should be placed before the committee for approval as was practised elsewhere in democracies. Besides, all accounts should be presented before the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament.

Commenting on the OIC conference, he said the entire Muslim world was facing dire consequences due to foreign troops’ occupation of Palestine, Kashmir, Iraq, and Afghanistan while Iran and Syria were being threatened. The Ummah was expecting that the OIC would take some practical steps to wriggle out the situation, he said, but it had disappointed.

Qazi Hussain pointed out that anti-Muslim propaganda had been unleashed throughout the world and conspiracies were being hatched to present mutilated face of Islam.

He said with the landing of the Nato army, Pakistan sovereignty had been trampled as the Nato army had not taken any permission before landing in the country but after 15 days an agreement was reached for 90 days stay, but as a matter of fact the Nato was looking for excuses to prolong its stay for good.

He said there were reports that not only the Nato army but the US troops were also present in the most sensitive areas of the country. Their presence in such areas was cause of concern and unrest among the masses, he added.

He said that there were talks about the map of “Greater Middle East” comprising all Muslim countries. This idea was mooted by the US, as after elimination of Eastern bloc in Europe Nato army had left with no role, he said. Now, he added, a new role was being carved out by deploying its troops in the “Greater Middle East”. He said already they had occupied Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq while Iran and Syria were being threatened.

Besides, their troops had landed in Kashmir and Pakistan. He said the question was why the Nato and the US army had landed in Pakistan and who had invited them as relief was not their field of duty. They had come without the permission and as such they should be asked to leave the country, he added.