LAHORE, Feb 13: The MMA on Sunday disowned the 17th Amendment, citing a breach of agreement by the government in this respect.

Speaking at the launch of a book by jailed PML-N leader Javed Hashmi here on Sunday, MMA President Qazi Husain Ahmad said as the government had backed out of its promise made with the alliance before passing the amendment, the MMA disowned it, implying that it would be ready to help strike down the same.

The Qazi got emotional and chanted the slogan "Musharraf ka jo yar hai ghaddar hai ghaddar hai (he who is friend of Musharraf is indeed a traitor) again and again.

The MMA chief allayed fears earlier expressed by some speakers that construction of the Kalabagh dam might disintegrate the country. "We shall amicably find out some formula for water distribution."

Alliance's secretary-general and leader of opposition Maulana Fazlur Rahman said those who had bifurcated the country and had been pinpointed in the Hamoodur Rahman Commission report were actual traitors.

Criticizing Gen Musharraf for lecturing on terms and condition required for waging Jihad, he said the army ruler had been trained for some other job and not this discussion on religion.

He alleged that various measures taken by the dictators had given birth to causes for disintegration of the country. He blamed the establishment for conspiring to pitch provinces against each other. He said the Kalabagh dam was a controversial project and the government must avoid to undertake it.

PML-N chairman Raja Zafarul Haq said those who had abrogated the constitution were traitors. Addressing ANP leader Begum Naseem Wali, he said he was born in the Punjab but was still of the firm opinion that the Kalabagh might be the most urgent requirement of the nation but it should not be built at the cost of the country.

Former president Rafiq Tarar, who had chaired the ceremony, said Gen Musharraf and other players in the army coup against an elected government could be tried under Article 6 at an appropriate time.

Begum Khan feared that construction of the Kalabagh dam could put the federation at stake. She said a change in the country would come only when the Punjab would take a stand for it because the blood being spilled in Wana and other areas was not visible to any one here. Others who spoke included Tehmina Daultana, Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, Saranjam Khan, Arif Nizami, Mansoor Ali Khan and Ataul Haq Qasmi.