LAHORE, Aug 7: Tehrik-i-Insaaf chairman Imran Khan says Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Altaf Husain will be arrested in the UK in September. Answering questions by audience at a seminar on rule of law and good governance arranged by the Liberal Forum on Tuesday, Mr Khan said the “good news” that the MQM chief was behind the bars could come from the UK by the end of September. He said he had got a case registered against Husain under the British justice system and Scotland Yard was probing the charges against him.

He said he would approach UK courts against Husain in case he was not arrested on the basis of the complaint lodged by him.

About a possible General Pervez Musharraf-Benazir Bhutto deal, he said it would benefit none. The deal would not save Gen Musharraf because his election in uniform was against the constitution. He said Pakistan People’s Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto had not agreed to sit with the elected Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal but met a dictator.

He said the general elections would be held in the country but Gen Musharraf would be out of the scene. The All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) has decided to approach the Supreme Court on General Musharraf’s election in uniform and on the killing of people in Karachi on May 12. The APDM wanted restoration of the 1973 Constitution and was faced with the biggest problem of ousting military from politics and restoration of democracy, he added.

He said the government had created an artificial divide of extremist and liberal to make the people commit suicide on foreign agenda.

He said the west had got hundreds of thousands of people killed after the Iranian Revolution in 1979. It brought Hamas and Al Fatah at loggerheads in Palestine and was getting people killed in Afghanistan and Somalia.

He said the extremism the US was trying to quell was political and not religious. Extremism is increasing day by day instead of dwindling down because it is the reaction to the US policies. He said that the US had admitted that no military solution of Iraq problem was possible.

He said the Lal Masjid operation was an outcome of the fear of the ruling elite. He said there was no justification for a military operation against Lal Masjid clerics.

He said moderation required to be brought in society through ballots and not bullets.

Earlier, addressing the seminar, Mr Khan said that Pakistan had been ranked 12th among the failed states because it was not an independent state.

He said the ruling elite was the root cause of all the problems in Pakistan. He said that 75 percent population was surviving on a Rs3,500 per month income according to a World Bank report but the government continued clamouring about prosperity viewing mass use of mobile phones.

He said Islam was the real force in Pakistan which had been proved after long lines of vehicles rushing to Oct 8 earthquake affected areas.

Former Lahore High Court Bar Association president Ahmed Awais said liberation of the nation from the clutches of the generals was the need of the hour.

He said exiled political leaders should return to the country and participate in the movement against the government. He said people would not forgive the politicians striking deals with the government. The lawyers would condemn them and stage a demonstration against them outside parliament.

Punjab Tehrik-i-Insaaf president Ahsan Rashid said good governance was not possible without the rule of law.

Lahore Bar Association secretary general Shamimur Rehman Malik said the movement launched by lawyers had restored rule of law and independence of the judiciary. Liberal Forum chairman Asif Khan said the political parties had not played their role in enforcing the rule of law in the country.

Liberal Forum Youth Wing Chairman Abbas Sarwar Qureshi said that only experiments had been conducted on governance in Pakistan since its creation but no good system had been evolved till date.