PESHAWAR, Aug 23: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal has said the NWFP government has rejected the present set-up of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) as the federal government has inducted incompetent people in the constitutional body.

Speaking at a press conference here on Monday, alliance spokesman Mufti Kifayatullah said members of the council were ignorant about Shariat laws. "These same people had supported the interest-based economy," he said and added that the MMA regretted the rejection of the proposed Hasba bill by the CII.

He said the provincial government would hold a seminar on Hasba bill in Lahore on Aug 29. After seeking opinion of all segments of the society, the NWFP government would table the bill in the assembly, he added.

The MMA spokesman said the provincial government had already held seminars on the bill in Peshawar and Karachi. He said the MMA government had yet to receive the opinion of the CII in black and white about the Hasba bill.

Mufti Kifayatullah condemned the crackdown on madressahs in different parts of the country, saying that repercussions of the campaign would be serious. He said the MMA would soon hold a convention to discuss the ongoing campaign against madressahs and warned that Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat would have to pay a price for ordering raids.

He demanded immediate removal of the interior minister and accused Mr Hayat of being involved in the killing of Qari Noor Mohammed who died in police custody last week. The spokesman said that Al Qaeda was a fake organization and the government was victimizing its political rivals by declaring them a member of Al Qaeda.