March 02, 2008	Sunday	Safar 23, 1429

KARACHI, March 1: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief, Altaf Hussain, has criticised former prime minister Nawaz Sharif for ‘misleading’ the masses on the issue of judiciary as he was talking about reinstatement of those judges who had taken oath under Provisional Constitution Order (PCO).

Speaking at a Labour Convention organised by the party’s labour wing here on Saturday night, he said that the Charter of Democracy was signed between PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif on May 14, 2006, when Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry was the chief justice and according to the COD those judges who took oath under PCO would not be accepted.

“Today Nawaz Sharif is demanding reinstatement of PCO judges, which itself is in contradiction to the COD,” he said. “He is a liar…. he had misled the nation by denying having any agreement with the government, but later conceded that it was for five years, and not for 10 years.”

He advised the chief of his own faction of Pakistan Muslim League to publicly disown the COD if he felt that it was an inaccurate document.

He criticised Nawaz Sharif for not accepting the mandate given by people to the MQM. “We do not want to enter into an agreement with Nawaz Sharif as we have already been bitten by his party twice.”

Mr Hussain urged all political parties to accept and respect each other’s mandate and be united to steer the country out of crisis.

He said the MQM would unconditionally support all positive steps taken by any government at the federal or provincial levels and it would not cause any hurdle in its way. “We will lodge peaceful protest to show our reservation as we are against of hooliganism in the name of protest.”

He congratulated the PPP for its victory in the polls, saying that the PPP got 3.5 million votes in Sindh while the MQM came second by securing 2.5 million votes.