LAHORE, Nov 26: MMA President Qazi Husain Ahmed asked President Pervez Musharraf on Friday to quit the post of army chief before Dec 31 for the sake of the dignity of the uniform or face a tough public resistance.

"When God-fearing activists take to the streets, the servants of foreign powers will not be able to face them", he said while addressing a convention of the district office-bearers of the Punjab chapter of the Jamaat-i-Islami.

He claimed that rallies planned by the religious alliance would be so well-attended that Gen Musharraf would quit before the Dec 19 public meeting scheduled for Rawalpindi.

"We don't need a general who surrenders before the United States but imposes himself on the country with the power of the gun and takes constitution and parliament hostage".

The MMA chief made it clear that the religious alliance was not opposed to the uniform. In fact, he said, the coalition wanted the uniform to be worn by the deserving man. A man who did not honour his word was not the right man for the uniform, he said in an obvious reference to Gen Musharraf.

The Qazi said the MMA had accepted the 17th Amendment with a heavy heart and allowed Gen Musharraf to stay on as army chief till Dec 31. But, it was regrettable that the general had not honoured his commitment. Now if the general was not adhering to his word the MMA was also under no obligation to go by it.

Referring to the repeated military interventions, Qazi Husain said the army had not given the people an opportunity to elect their representatives. As a result, he said, power had either been with the army or the favourites of foreign powers.

The MMA chief directed the alliance supporters to get themselves registered as voters by Dec 31, the last date set by the Election Commission for the purpose. In the next local elections, he said, they should ask the electorate not to vote for what he called American agents.

"If you have to revenge the killings of innocent people of Fallujah, Kashmir, Palestine and Afghanistan, reject the American agents in the elections and elect those sincere to the religion".

Criticizing the general for offering various options for the solution to Kashmir dispute, the MMA chief said President Musharraf had outlined his views at a time when India was not willing to budge an inch on its stated position. New Delhi, he recalled, was insisting that Kashmir was its integral part. He said while Kashmiri people were offering resistance to Indian atrocities, the president was sending wrong signals.