NOWSHERA, Jan 4: Police used batons to break up a demonstration by the Jamaat-i-Islami against the continued detention of Qazi Hussain Ahmad and other religious leaders.

The JI activists staged a sit-in in front of the district Nazim secretariat on the main GT Road to protest the continued detention of their party chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad. The police used batons to disperse the protesters, snatched their megaphones and broke down their batteries. They also took into custody three JI workers who were later released. The JI workers also presented a memorandum to the district Nazim, Pervez Khattak.

The government has extended Qazi’s detention for another month.

Addressing a meeting at the end of the sit-in, the JI provincial amir Prof Muhammad Ibrahim condemned the use of force against the party workers.

He charged that President Gen Pervez Musharraf was following the American agenda and had thus become a security risk for the country. He said that Musharraf must be removed and the power handed over to an interim setup headed by honest and pious people.

Ibrahim said the situation on the borders with India had become critical and it was high time the government’s reins were returned to the civilians and the army sent on forward locations to defend the country.

He said Gen Musharraf had put genuine and real leaders behind bars and was striking deals to allow corrupt politicians to return to the country.

He said that Musharraf’s continuation as president after October, 2002, would be a violation of the Supreme Court judgment. He held the president responsible for the destruction in Afghanistan, saying it was because of his government’s wrong policy that Pakistan had become friendless. He said the present situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s predicament had vindicated Qazi Hussain Ahmad’s stand on the issue.

He demanded release of Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Maulana Fazlur Rehman and other religious leaders. He said a rally would be held in Peshawar on Jan 27 to continue peaceful protests against these detentions.

The meeting was also addressed by JUI (S) leader Hamidul Haq Haqqani, PML’s Ikhtiar Wali and JUI (F)’s Zuber Anjum.