NOWSHERA/PESHAWAR, April 26: Former Jamaat-e-Islam chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad on Thursday urged the prime minister to step down after being convicted by the Supreme Court of contempt, saying Yousaf Raza Gilani has no right to hold the office any longer.

“The prime minister should quit forthwith as he has no constitutional and moral grounds to continue in the office,” he told a public meeting in Pabbi.

Mr Qazi said the government should put in place a caretaker setup, which should hold fresh elections within the next 90 days. He feared if the government didn’t accept the Supreme Court verdict, then undemocratic forces could take advantage of the situation.

The former JI chief said the court’s decision in the contempt case against the prime minister was laudable and if it wasn’t acted upon, then democracy in the country could suffer harm.

He accused the PPP-led government of corruption and said its wrong policies had multiplied common man’s misery. Mr Qazi said it seemed after Prime Minister Gilani, it was turn of his son, Musa Gilani, to loot taxpayers’ money. He said Musa was involved in mega corruption.

“People are asking Musa Gilani how he earned Rs5 billion to Rs20 billion over a small period of time,” he said.

The former JI chief said the government was pleasing Americans to the anger of the people of restive Balochistan and Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

He said people were losing life in mosques, seminaries, schools and even in hospitals, which were earlier considered safe. He said the government and its coalition partners were busy amassing money by compromising people’s interests.

Mr Qazi urged people to come onto the streets to get rid of the current ‘incapable’ government and vote sincere people to power for strengthening democracy and development.

He warned that if the government restored Nato supply, JI workers would stop it by force.

JI provincial vice chief Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, Nowshera district chief Mirajuddin and member central shura Asif Lauqman also spoke on the occasion.

PPP-S asks prime minister to resign The Pakistan People’s Party-Sherpao (PPP-S) has asked Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani to tender resignation and respect the verdict of Supreme Court of Pakistan as his stay in the office will be a humiliation for him and the country.

PPP-S provincial president MPA Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao told a meeting of his party office-bearers at Hayatabad here on Thursday that court convicted the prime minister in a contempt case and he was morally bound to tender resignation.

He said that coalition partners also played a role in increasing political chaos in the country by misguiding the government. The attitude of government badly dented the image of the country, he added.

Mr Sherpao said that government was responsible for deteriorating economy of the country and all the coalition partners should seek apology from the nation.

The PPP-S leader said that rule of law and independence of judiciary must be upheld at all costs otherwise the country would face many new problems.

The government, he said, should concentrate on welfare of masses and take tangible steps to overcome the prevailing crises as price hike, unemployment and deteriorating law and order had increased miseries of people.