March 18, 2007	Sunday	Safar 28, 1428

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ISLAMABAD, March 17: Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed has said that Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry is still not a free man and there are restrictions on his movement.

He was addressing a press conference held after his meeting with Justice Iftikhar and the meeting of the MMA Supreme Council here on Saturday.

He said the chief justice was being treated by the government like a detainee and his residence presented the scene of a sub-jail.

He said they were grilled at three barriers by the police before being allowed to meet the chief justice. He said police had erected barricades at various points.

Qazi Hussain said the MMA would formulate a strategy for the March 21 protest in consultation with the opposition parties.

Replying a question on the Multi-Party Conference convened by the Pakistan Muslim League (N) in London, he said the venue of the conference should not change.

He said the MMA would participate in the MPC.

The Jamaat-i-Islami amir said the MMA would continue its struggle for the stability of national institutions.

He said that political parties would demonstrate complete solidarity with lawyers and the media currently playing an historic role for the supremacy of the judiciary.

MMA secretary-general and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rahman said the alliance’s supreme council deplored the oppression and violent acts by law-enforcement agencies outside the Supreme Court building and other areas of Islamabad on Friday.

He accused Gen Musharraf of attacking democratic institutions to destabilise them. He said the supreme council also criticised the attack on the office of a private TV channel and expressed solidarity with the media.