January 15, 2008	Tuesday	Muharram 05, 1429

LAHORE, Jan 14: Jamaat-i-Islami amir and MMA president Qazi Husain Ahmad has said setting up national government on the pattern of caretakers will be fruitless since elections will be meaningless without ensuring supremacy of the judiciary and the Constitution.

He said the elections were part of a US plan to stage a show of democracy for the masses, whereas results had already been decided and a hung parliament would be created to strengthen Gen Musharraf (retired).

He said even if some sincere people got elected, they would be helpless against the establishment and won’t be able to bring any change.

He was delivering opening speech at the four-day meeting of Jamaat shoora (consultative body) which began its meeting here on Monday.

Besides the Shoora members, all district amirs of the party are specially participating in the meeting.

Qazi Husain said nobody in the country had confidence in the caretakers. He said the country was facing serious dangers from within and outside as its nuclear assets had been made an issue in the US presidential elections.

He demanded the judiciary and the Constitution be restored, interim government and election commission be reconstituted after consultation with all political parties. He also sought all people be allowed to freely contest the polls.

He directed all the office-bearers and workers of Jamaat to contact the masses and tell them that coming elections would only strengthen Gen Musharraf (retired) and weaken the country.

SHAHBAZ: PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif said on Monday that his party wanted national reconciliation, but it did not mean that those who plundered Rs100 billion from the kitty were forgiven.

He was answering to a question about his joining a proposed ‘national unity government’ after PPP leader from Sindh and former federal minister Syed Pervaiz Ali Shah announced to join the PML-N.

Shahbaz Sharif said free and fair polls under the present setup were not possible, and alleged that some officers of the Punjab government were sitting in the Governor’s House to rig the polls.

He was also critical of a senior officer of the Directorate General, Public Relations, who he alleged prepared certain prejudiced advertisements. He said if the chief election commissioner was unable to act against violations of EC’s code of ethics he should resign.

The PML-N chief appreciated the army chief’s statement in which he asked the army officers to distance themselves from politics.

Talking to the media, Syed Pervaiz Ali Shah regretted that some short-sighted people attempted to propagate provincialism after the martyrdom of PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto and it was collective responsibility of the nation to foil their nefarious designs.

He said he was joining the PML-N because the party was respected in all the four provinces.

He said the policies of incumbent government were a cause of concern for all provinces. He also alleged that political activists were targeted in Sindh after Ms Bhutto’s killing.

He alleged that MQM patron Altaf Husain’s open letter carried by Sindhi dailies also added fuel to the fire.