May 26, 2008	Monday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 20, 1429

LAHORE, May 25: Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Secretary-General Syed Munawwar Hassan has said that arrest of suspects involved in murder of PML-N vice-president Tariq Khan in Karachi was a test case for the Sindh inspector general of police because the party involved in the killing was in power in the province.

In a statement issued here on Sunday, he said that forces, which were involved in killing of a large number of people in Karachi on May 12, 2007, and April 9 this year, had murdered Khan.

On constitutional package presented by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Hassan said it was based on ‘minus-one formula’, which would not be accepted by the lawyers and civil society.

He said that criticism of President Pervez Musharraf by PPP Co-Chairperson Asif Ali Zardari was a mere “lip service” because the PPP was not only continuing his policies but also strengthening him.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was also repeating the statements General Musharraf used to utter during his eight-year dictatorial regime. Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani should have announced restoration of the deposed judges while announcing their release but Musharraf was allowed to fortify his position instead by delaying the restoration. He demanded that all details of the constitutional package should be made public.

The JI secretary general said that Nawaz Sharif should also review his decision to cooperate with the government, which did not bother to consult him while preparing the package. He said that ‘minus-one formula’ given in the package for the retirement of deposed Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry would be acceptable in case it was applied to General Pervez Musharraf instead.

He said that the rulers clamouring about conspiracies in the presidency even three months after the general elections were in fact proving their incompetence. The parties in the ruling coalition had decided to restore the judges, reconstitute the Election Commission and restore the Constitution in its original form and not to join hand with the MQM in the London’s MPC when they were in opposition but were violating their own decisions after coming into power.

He also expressed concern over continuous interference by the United States in the internal affairs of Pakistan and described statements issued by US officials against peace agreements in Swat and tribal areas as a violation of the sovereignty of Pakistan.