May 12, 2007	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 24, 1428

QUETTA, May 11: People will overcome MQM’s arm-twisting tactics to accord a warm reception to Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry in Karachi on Saturday, despite the MQM’s strong-arm tactics to sabotage the struggle for judiciary’s independence, according to Chief of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal Qazi Hussain Ahmed.

Dubbing the Muttahida Qaumi Movement an organisation of terrorists, Qazi Hussain said that MQM activists could not compete with people who were supporting the Chief Justice, upholding the supremacy of the constitution and the rule of law.

Referring to the possibility of the imposition of martial law in case of a clash in Karachi on Saturday, Qazi Hussain said that the country was already under military rule since Oct 12, 1999, adding that General Pervez Musharraf’s unwise policies had created hatred for army.

He said that if the army could not protect life and property of people in times of a domestic crisis, how could it repulse external aggression and defend national frontiers.

Talking to reporters in a local Madressah, he accused the government of wasting state funds for staging the ruling party’s rally in Islamabad on Saturday that would be addressed by the general.

Asserting that government employees had been ordered to attend the rally in front of parliament to make the headcount impressive, he said that such tactics could not deceive people, who were faced with lawlessness, price hikes, unemployment and political chaos.

The MMA chief claimed

that the only way to defuse the crisis was resignation of President Gen Musharraf and formation of an interim government besides holding free and fair polls.

He claimed that Gen Musharraf would go to any lengths to prolong his rule despite people’s hatred and said that he had done nothing to alleviate people’s problems during his long tenure in power.

Qazi Hussain said that the security detail responsible for the safety of the president in Quetta had blocked all main roads, adding that there was a curfew-like situation.

Criticising the government for its continuing cooperating with the United States in the ‘war on terror’, he said America was a major global terrorist state, adding that the US had killed thousands of Muslims during its occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.

He said that the MMA was a political platform and the alliance might make electoral adjustments with other political parties like the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and the Tehrik-i-Insaf.