KARACHI, Feb 27: The secretary general, Jamaat-i-Islami, Syed Munawwar Hasan, on Sunday accused President Pervez Musharraf of secularizing Pakistan and strengthening "his dictatorship" in the country , while making it clear that no one can snatch the right of holding peaceful demonstrations and protest.

"Protest is a democratic right of the people," he said, adding the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal's million march next month would give people an option to decide about theirs and the country's future. He was speaking at a high-level meeting of the party. The march is scheduled for March 20 in Karachi.

He criticized the president and prime minister for making tall claims regarding improvement in the country's economic condition, and said on the contrary people were suffering due to price hikes, poverty, economic recession and unemployment.

"The ground reality is that people are committing suicides for being unable to arrange food and schooling for their children," he observed, adding if the economy was progressing then why were people suffering at the hands of poverty and price hikes.

The JI leader also lambasted the government for its controversial educational policy, changes in the education curricula, and establishment of the Aga Khan University Examination Board. He said military officials had inflicted major loses on the country.

The JI Sindh Amir, Dr Mumtaz Ali Memon, disclosed that people of interior Sindh were boiling with rage against President Musharraf for his "controversial policies", rising unemployment and prices, urging people to support the religious parties in their campaign against the autocracy.

He criticized the Sindh government over the recent corruption scandal and demanded that proof of both the Sindh chief minister and sacked revenue minister Imtiaz Shaikh be made public. Amir JI Karachi Dr Merajul Huda Siddiqui also spoke. - PPI