ISLAMABAD, Oct 18: President of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) and Ameer Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Qazi Hussain Ahmed has claimed that some 3,000 Pakistan Army troops, including one brigadier and five colonels, have died in the massive earthquake that hit parts of Azad Kashmir and the NWFP on October 8.

Speaking at a press conference at his residence here on Tuesday, the MMA president regretted that Chief of the Army Staff Gen Pervez Musharraf did not have any knowledge about the loss suffered by the army even 24 hours after the disaster.

Mr Ahmed said: “He (Gen Musharraf) is the chief of army staff and he has no knowledge about his army,” and added that the time had come for Gen Musharraf to quit both offices and hand over the affairs of the state to a civilian set-up.

“We are ready to accept the present parliament, the prime minister and all other institutions. We want handing over of all affairs to the civilian population,” he said.

The MMA chief said the army had been “crippled due to its involvement in politics”.

He asked the army to return to its original job and assist the civilian administration in providing relief to earthquake victims.

Responding to a question, Mr Ahmed said that he feared that more than 100,000 people had died in the disaster. He said all houses and buildings in the affected areas had been completely or partially damaged.

The MMA leader said it seemed that there was a propaganda in the western countries by the Zionist lobby that Al-Qaeda members could penetrate in the earthquake-affected areas posing as volunteers carrying out relief activities.

He said that he had come to know about this when an Italian journalist put a question before him regarding it.

He said there was no threat to any foreigner in Pakistan and they would welcome all NGOs and members from all countries who wanted to work in the affected areas except Israel.

Mr Ahmed opposed the idea of setting up tented villages for the people who had lost their houses in the disaster. He said the people of the affected areas did not want to leave their destroyed houses and the government should provide tents to each of them at their former abode so that they could live at the same place.

He said the displacement of the affected people could cause further problems for the government.

The JI chief said there was a need to consult engineers so that the demolished houses could be constructed as early as possible as winter was fast approaching, and added that the engineers should be consulted for construction of the houses in these areas with other materials, for instance plastic.

He claimed that they had inspected the material of the buildings which had collapsed in the earthquake and found that no cement had been used in their construction.

He criticized the government for using TV artistes for collecting funds. He said on the one hand people were dying and on the other music concerts were being held in the name of collecting donations.

He said Gen Musharraf had himself danced on the occasion of Independence Day and, therefore, the nation had to suffer this tragedy.

The MMA leader criticized the method of distribution of relief goods and said dropping food items from helicopters was not a proper way to provide relief to the victims.

He said a team of 10 gliders of the Al-Khidmat Foundation would visit those areas where roads were blocked and where no rescue team had reached.

He introduced two members of a Turkish NGO team visiting Pakistan to prepare a report on the damages and need assessment in the earthquake-hit areas.

Former Karachi nazim Niamatullah Khan and MMA MNAs Asadullah Bhutto, Mohammad Laeeq Khan and Mohammad Hussain Mehnati were also present on the occasion.