October 25, 2007	Thursday	Shawwal 12, 1428

LAHORE, Oct 24: The Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan (JUP) has called upon MMA president Qazi Husain Ahmad and secretary-general Maulana Fazlur Rahman to step down from their offices.

Speaking at a press conference here on Wednesday, secretary-general Qari Zawwar Bahadur said the two leaders, belonging to the Jamaat-i-Islami and JUI-F, had been occupying the offices for the last around five years and they should now make room for representatives of other constituents.

Criticising the JUI-F leaders for washing their dirty linen in public, he belied their claim that four components of the MMA supported Fazlur Rahman’s stance on resignations and dissolution of the NWFP assembly.

“Fazlur Rahman and Abdul Ghafoor Haideri were not speaking the truth. All MMA components except the JUI-F were in favour of dissolving the provincial assembly before the presidential elections.”

He held the JUI-F responsible for Gen Musharraf’s re-election as the party delayed dissolution of the assembly to prevent making the president’s electoral college incomplete.

Qari Zawwar recalled that the JUI-F had dragged its feet on quitting assemblies when the government introduced the Women Protection Bill in the parliament. “The bill was introduced and passed by the parliament but MMA MPs remained sitting in the house,” he said.

He lamented that the alliance did not get army action stopped in tribal areas despite having say in two provincial governments.

The JUI-F policies, he said, had annoyed MMA voters and their reaction would be evident in the general election.

To a question, he said Maulana Fazl believed that the way to power corridor passed through cooperation with the establishment.

He said his party wanted to keep the religious grouping intact but harsh statements by some of the JUI-F representatives (against Qazi) were taking it towards split.

He told a questioner that the MMA had at least managed to promote religious harmony among various schools of thought fighting at the time when the alliance had been formed.

Referring to the recently promulgated National Reconciliation Ordinance, the JUP secretary-general said it was party-specific as corruption cases against PPP leaders involving billions of rupees had been withdrawn but an elderly and ailing JUP leader, Allama Shabbir Hashmi, was behind the bars for the last nine months just for delivering a fiery speech against the government.

“Does the new law not cover Allama Hashmi, if it is about national reconciliation?”