NOWSHERA, Sept 27: The head of Jamaat-i-Islami, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, said on Friday that he would oppose US military action in Afghanistan if his party formed part of a coalition government after October polls.

He also said that religious parties would not rule out forming a coalition with secular parties after the Oct 10 general election, which is supposed to return the country to civilian rule.

“The decisions of the government that are against the wishes of the people — like giving Pakistani air bases to the United States or allowing US planes to use Pakistani space for attacks on Afghanistan — we will continue to oppose these decisions.

“We will withdraw this support,” Ahmed told Reuters in an interview in Nowshera garrison town, 100 km northwest of Islamabad where he will contest the October election.

The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal alliance of six Islamic groups, including Qazi Hussain’s, already opposes the decision by President Pervez Musharraf to back the US military campaign against the ousted Afghan Taliban regime and Al Qaeda network.

But its opposition could become more awkward for Gen Musharraf if the alliance was to form part of a coalition government after the election.

Hardline Islamic groups have traditionally been allies of military rulers, who have ruled the country for more than half of its 53-year history.

But they fell out with Gen Musharraf over his Afghan policy in the wake of last year’s Sept 11 attacks on the United States. Pakistan has cracked down on Islamic militant groups, further aggravating relations with religious conservatives.

Qazi said he would support reforms undertaken by Gen Musharraf “which enjoy the support of the people of Pakistan”.

Asked whether the MMA would sit alongside the country’s two main political parties — the Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League — in any coalition, he replied:

“It is the question to be addressed after we make it to the parliament....but if we make it to parliament, we will not adopt any inflexible attitude.”

Qazi said: “There is no alternative leadership in the country other than Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal. It is the only political force that is running a country-wide election campaign,” he added.

Gen Musharraf, who extended his rule for five more years through a referendum in April, last month imposed rules effectively blocking the participation in polls of Benazir and Nawaz, who alternated twice as prime ministers in the 1990s.—Reuters