July 20, 2007	Friday	Rajab 04, 1428

LAHORE, July 19: The Jamaat-i-Islami has repudiated the call given to all political parties by President Gen Pervez Musharrraf for a conference to find out ways and means to fight terrorism and religious extremism, pleading that such a meeting will be a meaningless exercise as it has no chances of achieving a consensus.

“The best way to resolve the prevailing crisis is that Gen Musharraf should step down paving the way for a caretaker government of national consensus to hold fair and transparent elections for the purpose of restoring democracy in the country,” Jamaat amir Qazi Husain Ahmad said while talking to reporters at Mansoora during a break in the meeting of the party’s central executive committee on Thursday.

He said no solution to any problem could be found during the Musharraf rule because his regime was responsible for driving the country to a political impasse and the situation continued to deteriorate.

He referred to a five-point formula that all the opposition parties had evolved and was ratified by the multi-party conference (MPC) in London saying that it alone could provide a solution to the present crisis.

He said the resignation of Gen Musharraf, an end to military rule and elections under a neutral caretaker regime to restore a civilian government and making all the state institutions functional were the salient features of the formula.

JOINT COMMITTEE: The JI amir said the first meeting of a joint action committee of the new alliance, the All-Party Democratic Movement (APDM), would discuss a host of issues in Islamabad on July 23, and this included en bloc resignations of the MMA parties.

“As for my own resignation, it is my personal decision and this does not bind other JI legislators as a matter of policy,” he added.

He was of the view that the APDM must decide the launching of a movement against the regime and take all possible measures, including en bloc resignations, to prevent Gen Musharraf from seeking re-election from the present assemblies at a time when they were completing their tenure in a few months to come.

He hoped that the people would wholeheartedly support such a movement that would rid them of autocratic rule for good.

Qazi Husain said the regime had widened the gulf between the people and the armed forces by involving the military in operations against the Lal Masjid and the offensive in the NWFP and tribal areas at the behest of the US which wanted a clash between the people and the army. This policy had endangered the security and integrity of the country, he added.

BALOCH: Meanwhile, JI naib amir Liaquat Baloch told reporters that the situation had deteriorated to an extent as to provide foreign powers an opportunity to make an armed intervention. He said the entire opposition stood united under the banner of the APDM except the PPP whose leadership had isolated itself from the democratic struggle.

He said the regime, which was committing one mistake after the other, had endangered the country’s unity and the APDM must take a serious notice of the situation by taking decisive steps to save the country.