ISLAMABAD, Feb 5: Jamaat-i-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed welcomed on Tuesday Chief of Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani’s initiatives to keep armed forces out of politics and urged him to dissociate himself from what he called the unconstitutional National Security Council to prove his sincerity about rebuilding the image of the army as a genuine defence force.

Addressing a Kashmir Solida-rity Day rally here, Qazi, however, condemned the Nov 3 action of President Pervez Musharraf.

He said that Mr Musharraf had formed the NSC to serve his own interests and it should be disbanded.

The Jamaat-i-Islami chief said his party, along with component parties of the APDM, were in the field to convince all parties to boycott the Feb 18 polls and they would continue their struggle for the supremacy of the Constitu-tion. He demanded formation of an interim government in consultation with all political parties and an independent election commission to ensure fair, free and transparent elections.

“How can we demand fundamental human rights for the people of occupied Kashmir if the same rights are flagrantly denied to Pakistanis and the people of AJK?” the Jamaat chief asked.

He said the people had rejected Mr Musharraf’s four-point formula to solve national problems.

He appealed to the people to struggle against the one-man rule supported by a few generals to take the destiny of the country in their own hands.

He said the founder of the country’s nuclear bomb, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, had been in jail for the past several years and no one was allowed to meet him and now the deposed CJP was living in a house locked by police from outside.

He said the president had lost all moral and legal grounds to remain in power and should step down. He accused the parties participating in the elections of advancing the American agenda in the country.

Later, he led a procession which marched towards the residence of deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, but their march was blocked by a large contingent of police deployed there.