December 17, 2006	Sunday	Ziqa'ad 25, 1427

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HYDERABAD, Dec 16: Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan (JUP) President Anas Noorani has said that JUP parliamentarians will boycott parliament and not accept perks and privileges until the supreme council of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) takes a final decision on resignations.

Speaking at Imam Noorani conference at Noor Mehal Cinema Chowk on Friday, he claimed that the government would now turn to blasphemy and Khatm-i-Nubuwwat laws and make a bid to repeal them. He, however, made it clear that JUP would not leave MMA because it was founded by late Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani.

Roet-i-Hilal Committee Chairman Mufti Munibur Rehman, MMA MNA Dr Sahibzada Abul Khair Mohammad Zubair and MPA Abdul Rehman Rajput also attended the conference.

Mr Noorani showered praise on his father late Allama Noorani who he said had always championed the cause of democracy and never feared speaking his mind in the face of military rule.

He said that a ‘gang of Ali Baba and his 40 thieves’ was ruling the country and were talking about bringing changes to its geographical borders. "They have misinterpreted the Holy Quran as far as Hudood Ordinance is concerned. It’s a first step towards vulgarity and obscenity and the law will be followed by another bill to repeal blasphemy law and after that Khatm-i-Nubuwat law," he said.

The parliament was not empowered to approve a law which was repugnant to the teachings of Islam, he said and recalled that when the government made a similar attempt in 2002 to repeal blasphemy law, late Noorani had launched a massive campaign forcing the government into retreat.

Sahibzada Abul Khair Mohammad Zubair accused the government of changing curriculum at the behest of foreign powers and said that operation in Wana had continued without any break. "Can there be a more tyrannical step than stopping azan in Faisal mosque during the visit of UK premier Tony Blair," he asked.

Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and chief minister of Punjab had singed an agreement with ulema but later backed out of it, he said, adding that the law had allowed adultery and authorised provincial governments to commute the punishment.

Mufti Muneebur Rehman said that MMA did not have a leader who could match the qualities of late Noorani and it was the reason the alliance was facing differences.

MPA Rehman Rajput said that the country’s history bore witness to the fact that military dictators had always taken decisions on sensitive issues. When the rivers were sold the country was being ruled by a general and when the country was dismembered a military dictator was at the helm of affairs, he said.

He said that a general introduced Kalashnikov culture and a general was now attacking Islam and attempting to bargain on Kashmir.