ISLAMABAD, July 26: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) president and parliamentary leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed on Monday warned the government against sending troops to Iraq and said there would be a nation-wide reaction against such a decision , particularly when the nation will face the tragedy of receiving coffins containing the bodies of its jawans.

Talking to a group of newsmen at the Parliament House lobby, Qazi Hussain Ahmed said that if Pakistani troops were sent into Iraq the incidents of kidnappings and killings will immediately increase.

"Not only will our people be kidnapped, but they will also be randomly killed and tortured and the nation will have to receive in huge numbers the dead bodies and coffins of its civilian and military personnel," he remarked.

Referring to the oath-taking ceremony of the two new MQM MNAs who were declared successful in by-elections in Karachi, he strongly criticised their declaration of success and linked it to government-MQM connivance.

He claimed the chief election commissioner was sent on forced leave after the opposition's strong protest. Qazi Hussain alleged that all institutions had broken down under a planned conspiracy, and the people could only be brought together against this by launching a public awareness campaign.

To a query he said, MQM was not in a position to blackmail the government, and it was the government which was using the MQM to advance its purpose. Asked for his comments on a report of a drunk Pakistani official's shameful act in Madinah, the MMA chief said, if such an incident had occurred, as reported, then it was a source of great shame for the entire nation and the prime minister should take serious notice of it.