PESHAWAR, Aug 12: Central president of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Pakistan (Constitutional Group) Maulana Muhammad Shoaib has praised the Supreme Court verdict on the Hasba bill and said that the MMA government had passed the bill only to woo voters ahead of local body elections.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Maulana Muhammad Shoaib accused the MMA-led provincial government of using official machinery to win favourable results in the local body election. Government funds have been given to MMA-sponsored candidates.

He called upon President Musharraf to take immediate action against the NWFP government for what he called “gross misconduct”. He said the president should impose governor’s rule in the province.

He also criticised the MMA secretary general and opposition leader in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman for issuing a statement in which he had said that trained people were going to Afghanistan from Pakistan.

He demanded that the federal government take notice of this statement and take action against the Maulana.

Maulana Shoaib also came down hard on the NWFP government for passing the Hasba bill, saying the bill was nothing but a ploy to deceive people in the name of Islam. He predicted that the religious parties’ alliance was about to disintegrate because its components had fielded candidates against each other in the local body polls.

He said the MMA had failed to keep promises it had made with the people of the province.

He supported the federal government’s move regarding registration of madressahs, saying that no foreign student should enter these institutions without prior permission of the government.