ISLAMABAD, May 17: The Supreme Council of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) on Monday rejected Karachi's by-polls results, demanded resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner, asked the president to sack the Sindh governor and called for holding fresh , fair and free by-elections under the supervision of the army.

It condemned what it called the worst kind of terrorism unleashed on the city on the polling day in which 11 people were killed and over 100 others suffered bullet injuries.

The alliance decided to expand the NWFP cabinet to accommodate more people from smaller parties in the alliance. The council, which met with Qazi Hussain Ahmed in the chair, rejected Gen Pervez Musharraf's suggestions about changes in the Hudood ordinance and blasphemy laws and decided to resist any attempt at what it called secularising and liberalising the laws at the behest of United States.

It criticized Education Minister Zobaida Jalal for 'secularising' the school syllabus and demanded her immediate replacement. Maulana Samiul Haq of JUI-S and Prof Sajid Mir did not attend the meeting. Maulana Samiul Haq has developed serious differences with the MMA leadership, while Prof Sajid Mir did not attend because of illness.

Those who attended the meeting included Maulana Fazlur Rahman, Allama Sajid Ali Naqvi, Gen K.M. Azhar, Liaquat Baloch, Pir Ijaz Hashmi, Sahibzada Abul Khair Mohammad Zubair, Allama Ramazan Tauqir, Prof Khurshid Ahmed and Maulana Abdul Aziz.

Reiterating its solidarity with tribesmen, the MMA described the army-tribesmen agreement as a right step in the right direction and asked the government to avoid any military option.

It demanded replacement of the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCRs) with an Islamic order. It opposed presence of foreign elements, including personnel of the American FBI and the CIA, in tribal areas.

Briefing newsmen after the meeting, alliance secretary-general Maulana Fazlur Rahman said that the meeting had taken serious notice of the continuous absence of its vice-president and JUI-S president Senator Maulana Samiul Haq, from meetings of the supreme council, his (Maulana's) acceptance of the chairmanship of a Senate house committee and his son's of the NA house committee in violation of the alliance's policy. The meeting decided to proceed against him in the next MMA meeting.

It asked the reconciliatory committee headed by Prof Sajid Mir to present a detailed report about Maulana Sami's position in the next meeting. The council decided to take up the issue of election of the alliance's office-bearers, including the president, at its next meeting.

Criticizing a statement of the PPP-Patriots advising Gen Musharraf not to quit the post of army chief even after Dec 31, the MMA termed it a 'case of treason against the Constitution' and demanded immediate ouster of Patriots' ministers from the government.

Qazi Hussain said that Gen Musharraf was bound by the Constitution to make necessary appointments to hand over the charge of army chief before Dec 31 when the relevant clause of the Constitution would become operational.

The MMA also urged the government to take a decision on the appointment of the leaders of the opposition in the National Assembly and Senate and said that it had the rightful claim for both the posts due to its numerical strength in the two houses.

The alliance decided to hold a national conference in June and launch a countrywide mass contact programme in July and August by holding meetings in Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Sukkur, Quetta, Peshawar and Abbottabad.

The council decided to extend MMA's organization to Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Northern Areas in consultation with local party organizations. He said the issue of incursions by American ground forces and airspace violations were also discussed and the alliance expressed dismay over the failure of the Pakistan army in effectively stopping foreign intruders despite deployment of 70,000 regular troops on the western borders.