KARACHI, Jun 4: President of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal Qazi Hussain Ahmad on Sunday took pledge from participants of the public meeting, held at Fresco Chowk on Sunday, that they would take to the street in millions if and when called by the MMA to force Gen Pervez Musharraf and his colleagues to handover powers to a neutral caretaker government.
Addressing the meeting under the title of ‘Aamir Cheema Shahadat Conference’, he paid rich tributes to the late Cheema for showing great courage against blasphemers and bringing more pride to the Ummah.
Qazi Hussain held Gen Musharraf responsible for all the problems being faced today by the country and the nation. He declared that people wanted an end to the military dictatorship now, and said that military generals would no more be allowed to take over the country.
He demanded setting up of an independent election commission that could allow only upright and honest people to contest the elections under Article-62 and 63 of the constitution.
Regarding the situation prevailing in the country, he said that doors of justice had been closed to aggrieved people. In this context, he pointed out that the terrorists who had eliminated ulema, scholars, prominent figures and faithful at Nishtar Park in a large number were still at large weeks after the bombing whereas those who had made an abortive attempt on Gen Musharraf’s life had not only been arrested promptly but also convicted swiftly.
Claiming that the rulers had failed to deliver, he said the hike in the prices of all essential commodities and petroleum products had made the life of common man miserable while the unemployment graph was touching new heights.
Instead of creating new job opportunities, the government was snatching livelihood of the people like rickshaw and taxi drivers and rendering thousands of people jobless through privatisation.
Condemning the razing of villages and katchi abadis, he said people were being rendered homeless. He also castigated the government for failing to overcome the power crisis in Karachi. He said the lawlessness had assumed an alarming level and it seemed as if there was no rule of law.
He observed that neither medical nor education facilities were available to the poor class while the middle class appeared unable to afford even utility bills.
He said due to the flawed economic policy, more than half the population of the country lived below the poverty line. He deplored that the sugar and cement crises were being covered up and those responsible were being protected. He said that the people involved in the scams were so powerful that even the military ruler or the NAB could not dare to take them to task.
He said that the affairs of the government were being handled by the people who themselves were plundering the country’s wealth and transferring the money abroad. These very people were in charge of implementing the US agenda vis-à-vis education and foreign policy. Under the agenda, he added, the country’s army was being used against its citizens and the glaring examples were the military actions in Balochistan and Waziristan. The rulers had brought the US war to the soil of Pakistan, thus exposing the country to the threat of disintegration.
The MMA leader also referred to the raids on religious seminaries, and pointed out that more than 300 ulema picked up in such raids were still unaccounted for. Labelling them as Al-Qaeda contacts, their whereabouts were not being disclosed, he added.
“Our national hero, Dr Qadeer Khan, had been subjected to disgrace and confinement,” he deplored, and pointed out that the US congressmen were demanding his custody for investigations.
Qazi Hussain said that Muslims were being dubbed as ‘terrorists’ although they had not never attacked or occupied any country. Rather, he added, they were victims of terrorism around the world. On the other hand, the United States had unleashed a reign of terror across the world.
Qazi Hussain warned that if Iran was attacked, this would turn the entire Islamic world against the US.
Prof Nazeer Cheema, father of the late Aamir Cheema, criticised the government for its indifferent attitude towards his son’s case.
Allama Hasan Turabi, Maulana Abdul Karim Abid, Dr Mairajul Huda Siddiqui, Mufti Yusuf Qasuri and Qazi Noorani were among others who paid tributes to Amir Cheema.
