January 13, 2008	Sunday	Muharram 03, 1429

LAHORE, Jan 12: Jamaat-i-Islami amir Qazi Husain Ahmad said on Saturday Pervez Musharraf had admitted the failure of his policies by mentioning the threat of the US and Nato interference in Pakistan.

He was talking to the media after condoling with the city police officers the casualties the law-enforcement force faced in Thursday’s blast.

He demanded that President Musharraf should immediately resign and take some practical steps instead of just issuing press statements. The resignation, he said, would enable the political forces to sit together for devising a joint strategy to cope with the threat.

The Jamaat leader emphasised that an immediate direct action and abandoning the US-led alliance were essential for the integrity and solidarity of the country. He regretted that the rulers were reluctant to name the foreign forces behind the ongoing wave of organised terrorism.

“The real objective of the sabotage is to create chaos and anarchy in Pakistan for declaring it a failed state so that its nuclear assets can be seized,” he said.

The Musharraf regime, he said, was covering up the real face of the enemy by blaming Taliban and Al-Qaeda for every bomb blast. He wondered that no clue to the saboteurs was being found, though, apart from local sleuths, the FBI and other foreign agencies were operating freely in the country.

Statements of the American presidential candidates and the West against Islamabad’s nuclear programme in the wake of blasts were exposing the face of the real enemy, he said, appealing to the politicians to realise the threat to the very integrity of the country and work in unison for national solidarity instead of issuing statements against one another.

The Qazi told a questioner that Feb 18 polls would be highly doubtful and an unfair and unconstitutional exercise which would trigger anarchy instead of stabilising the country.

The political parties still have a chance to wage a joint struggle for the restoration of independent judiciary, impartial caretaker set-up and autonomous election commission before holding polls, he stressed.

Earlier, he called on SSP (Operations) Aftab Cheema and condoled the killing of policemen. He said the policemen laid their lives in the line of duty which was highly appreciable.