February 25, 2008	Monday	Safar 17, 1429

KARACHI, Feb 24: Jamaat-i-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad has asked the Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League-N, who have emerged as the majority parties after the Feb 18 elections, to announce that they would not accept the “extra-constitutional measures of an unconstitutional president.” He also hinted at the reactivation of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal.

The Qazi, in his telephonic address to a gathering of party members from Karachi, said that no law in the world considered the election of Pervez Musharraf in uniform as justified, as he could only be eligible for office two years after the date he doffed his army uniform. Therefore, his election as president could not be constitutional and legal.

The JI chief condemned the involvement of the US ambassador in the formation of the government by calling on Asif Zardari twice in a day and the visits of Mr Zardari to the US embassy.

Terming it as “interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan,” the Qazi said it was against the independence and sovereignty of Pakistan and was against diplomatic norms.

The JI chief said the MMA was intact and would soon be reactivated. However, he said that presently they had no intention of launching any movement, nor would they come out on the streets to press for the restoration of the constitution and the rule of law and the release of judges, including the chief justice.

Meanwhile, deputy JI chief Prof Ghafoor Ahmad on Sunday condemned the publication of blasphemous sketches in Danish newspapers. Addressing a protest rally on the New M.A. Jinnah Road, he said the West had double standards; on one side they talk about human rights and on the other they were harming Muslim countries.