ISLAMABAD, March 1: The nine-member steering committee of the opposition on Wednesday took strong exception to the political statement emanating from Tuesday’s corps commanders’ conference and criticised President Gen Pervez Musharraf for turning the meeting into a political forum.

The corps commanders conference presided over by Gen Musharraf had warned elements who were politicising the issue of blasphemous caricatures and expressed determination not to allow any group to exploit religious sentiments of people to create a law and order situation in the country.

Such an act, the committee observed, could have dangerous consequences for the country as well as the institution of armed forces.

It demanded in the best interest of the country and the nation that not only the corps commanders’ conferences but the armed forces should be immediately separated from political matters and spared to concentrate on defence matters.

The committee did not have on its agenda the proposed protest rallies on the arrival of United States President George Bush in the country.

Siddiqul Farooq of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) said the committee was engaged in discussing ways and means to launch a successful movement after the ongoing series of demonstrations against publication of blasphemous cartoons.

Earlier, the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal president and convener of the ‘national consultative council’ meeting had announced that protest rallies would be held on the arrival of President Bush.

However, no party except the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf has decided to hold rallies on the occasion.

The committee’s convener Iqbal Zafar Jhagra of the PML-N, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf of the People’s Party Parliamentarians, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, Senator Amanullah Kanrani of the Jamhoori Watan Party, Liaqat Baloch of the Jamaat-i-Islami, Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour of the Awami National Party, Pir Ejaz Hashmi of the Jamait Ulema-i-Pakistan and Munir Gilani of the Islami Jamhoori Front attended the meeting. S. Akbar Baber of the PTI could not attend the meeting, Siddiqul Farooq and Dr Tariq Fazal attended it as observers.

Pervaiz Ashraf said the committee had discussed basic things about the struggle for the restoration of democracy before preparing a final strategy, which would be done in its second meeting on March 9.

He said an anti-government movement was already under way and it needed to be streamlined and strengthened, for which the committee would work.

He asserted that the masses were fed up with the failure of the government on all national issues and they were ready to join any movement which would oust the regime.

The committee appealed to the nation to make the March 3 strike in protest against the publication of blasphemous cartoons a success. It appealed that the strike should be kept peaceful as far as possible.

It said the nation and its representatives were running the anti-blasphemy campaign as a religious duty while the government by its reaction and political statements had turned it into a political movement.

It directed all the local branches of the opposition parties which had attended the conference stage rallies wherever possible and play their role in making the strike a success.

It decided that all the opposition parties would whole heartedly participate in the March 5 ‘million march’ in Karachi and a rally in Quetta on March 7 in protest against blasphemy.