KARACHI, Dec 8: Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal’s leader and secretary-general of Jamaat-i-Islami, Syed Munawar Hassan, said on Sunday that the People’s Party Parliamentarians should be given the opportunity to form the Sindh government.

Speaking at a lunch hosted by Pakistan People’s Party leader Nafees Siddiqui at his residence, he demanded that the party which commanded majority in the Sindh Assembly should be allowed to form the provincial government.

Munawar Hassan expressed concern over the delay in convening of Sindh Assembly and maintained that the establishment did not want a stable democratic government in the province.

The MMA leader said the people of the city had rejected the politics of violence and kalashnikov culture in the election.

He called for elimination of extortion and politics of blackmailing. This, he said, could be achieved with the cooperation of the MMA, the PPP and the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy.

He asserted that the democratic system and the military uniform could not go together. He said the MMA, the PPP and the ARD could play a role for the complete restoration of democracy and the 1973 Constitution.

“We do not believe in cosmetic changes. At the same time, we don’t want instability in the country, but transfer of power. A strong democratic government and parliament cannot exist in the presence of military uniform, Article 58 (2-b) and the National Security Council,” he maintained.

The PPP’s parliamentary leader in Sindh Assembly, Nisar Khuhro, asserted that there was no justification for postponement of the Sindh Assembly’s session.

He claimed that the PPP, the majority group in the assembly, was a “victim of a conspiracy. This is an undemocratic act. The mandate of the people must be respected. People of Sindh are concerned due to the uncertain situation in the province.”

Acting secretary-general of the PPP, Mian Raza Rabbani, talking to newsmen, alleged that there was “open and blatant interference of the federal government” in the formation of the government in Sindh.

“Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali is active in the formation of government in Sindh. The mandate of the people of the province is not being respected and a minority candidate is being thrust as chief minister,” he said.—PPI