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ISLAMABAD Dec 19: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) has demanded restoration of supremacy of the parliament and change in foreign and internal policies.
This demand was made by the speakers at a rally held in Islamabad on Friday. The MMA staged protest demonstrations in all big cities and towns as part of its countrywide movement against President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s rule.
The protest demonstration was led by Jamaat-i-Islami Punjab deputy chief and MNA from Islamabad Mian Mohammad Aslam. The local leaders and workers of Jamaat-i-Islami, both factions of JUI, JUP, Jamiat Ahle Hadith, Shia Ulema and religious students participated in the demonstration.
The participants carried banners and placards and chanted slogans.
The speakers said people had come to the conclusion that dictatorship and democracy could not go together. They said the government institutions were deliberately creating sectarian chaos to divert the attention of the people from real issues.
Speaking at the demonstration, Mian Aslam said backing out from the stated position on Kashmir, detention of three eminent nuclear scientists and removal of Ghauri missile model from Islamabad indicated that the government was heading on the path of nuclear roll-back.
He said the people had been left with no choice but to come out on the streets and reject the policies of the government. The supremacy of the parliament, he said, could not be established unless the LFO was buried for ever, he added.
A resolution passed on the occasion demanded presentation of constitutional package in the parliament and immediate withdrawal of all political cases and release of all political prisoners.
STAFF REPORER ADDS FROM PINDI: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal has condemned the government for allegedly initiating a media campaign against the religious parties alliance.
The MMA leaders called it a mean and cowardice act, claiming their protest movement had sent jitters among the government circles. This is the reason that government people were invited to a news night programme to run propaganda against the MMA, an alliance spokesman claimed.
The programme seemed to have been pre-recorded and meant to be aired on the launch of the MMA protest movement, he added.
Justice and morality demanded that MMA supporters were also invited to participate in the programme to express their viewpoint, the spokesman said, adding that such propaganda campaign would destroy the little bit credibility that the officially-controlled electronic media had.
