ISLAMABAD, Oct 1: Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain on Friday invited all the political and religious parties to unite for strengthening democracy and eliminating the military's role in politics.

Speaking at the 'meet the press' programme of the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Press Club by telephone from London, the MQM chief asked Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) leader Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan People's Party Chairperson Benazir Bhutto to develop 'courage' and launch a 'true' struggle for democracy.

The MQM would be in the forefront if the parties took any step in the direction, he said. He said President Gen Pervez Musharraf's uniform was a non-issue. "The issue of Gen Musharraf having one or two posts is meaningless and the debate on this matter is nothing but a wastage of time," he said.

The MQM chief said that if Gen Musharraf quit his military post a new general would take over the country as the army, with the collaboration of the bureaucracy and the feudals, had been involved in political affairs, directly or indirectly, since 1947.

He claimed that every government from Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's to Nawaz Sharif's had come to power with the connivance of the armed forces. He said the powerful "hidden hands" brought Mr Sharif into power with a two-thirds majority in the 1997 election. "Where was the majority when the Nawaz government was sacked in 1999?" he asked.

Mr Hussain said former prime minister Benazir Bhutto had stated on record that she was waiting for a "green signal from the General Headquarters for her return to the country."

He criticized the role of the religious parties and said those had become a tool in the hands of the military bureaucracy. He asked where those parties' leaders were when the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency of the US were setting up training camps in Pakistan with the help of the military during the so-called Afghan Jihad.

Responding to a question, Mr Hussain said that whatever was happening in Balochistan was not right. He said the MQM was not bound to obey every decision of the government. In reply to a question, the MQM chief said he could not come to the country where even the chief of the army staff and the corps commanders were not safe.

He said he would return to the country whenever the MQM Coordination Committee asked him. He said the government was not renewing his passport despite his party being a part of the coalition and he had to seek British nationality as he was facing difficulties in travelling. Mr Hussain condemned Friday's bomb blast in a mosque in Sialkot.

WAGE BOARD AWARD: The MQM chief directed the party's leadership and parliamentarians to press for the implementation of the 7th Wage Board Award for newspaper employees and take up the issue with the government.