HYDERABAD, Sept 3: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) candidate for NA-219 and PS-49, Hyderabad, Mushtaq Ahmed Khan, has said that on several occasions the nation had voted for the political jugglers and nationalist elements who had repeatedly deceived their constituents and failed to resolve even the basic problems of the poor masses.

He said this while addressing the public in Latifabad on Monday.

He urged the people to get rid of the opportunists and the self-seekers and vote for the exponents of Islam.

He said the only panacea to all the problems confronting the nation lay in the introduction of an Islamic way of life.

He said it was for the first time that all the religious parties belonging to different schools of thought had united on one platform under the flag of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and now it was upto the people to differentiate between the good and the evil.

He said that now the people could not blame the religious parties that they were not united.

He said this unity among the religious parties was not for the elections but forever, and added that there was every possibility that all the religious parties in the not-too-distant future would merge into one party.

CPP: Imdad Qazi, member, central secretariat of the Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP), claimed that the rejection of the nomination forms of Benazir Bhutto was a total negation of the democratic process and was a plan of President Pervez Musharraf to introduce American brand of democracy in the country.

He said this while addressing a workers’ meeting on Tuesday.

He said that it was a foregone conclusion that a puppet civilian government would be inducted into power after the general elections, but as far as real democracy was concerned it would remain just a dream.

Mr Imdad said that democracy was a continuous process which started with the appointment of an independent election commission and an independent interim government concluded with the transfer of power to the elected representatives of the people.

He said the coming elections were in no way a part of the genuine democratic process and it was, therefore, the duty of all democratic parties to boycott the elections and foil the objectives of America and the generals.

He said after boycotting the elections, the political parties should highlight the political and economic problems of the people including rampant unemployment, privatization of state enterprises, and price hike to ensure the participation of the masses in the political process.

He said this will certainly weaken the ruling clique.

He hailed the decision of Nawaz Sharif to withdraw his nomination papers in protest against the rejection of Ms Benazir Bhutto’s nomination papers, and added that it would have a statutory affect on the political and democratic culture.

He said the CPP had already announced boycotting the elections, and added that the party would be convening a conference of all democratic forces to accelerate the campaign for the restoration of undiluted democracy in the country.