LAHORE, March 10: Jamaat-i-Islami Amir Qazi Husain Ahmad extended on Sunday conditional support to the PPP and the PML in the next general elections.

Speaking at a reception hosted for him after his release, he said his party wanted guarantees from the PPP and the PML that they would not repeat the past mistakes.

He also demanded that both the parties should apologize to the nation for their past mistakes. They should also make public their future plans and strategy if they wanted the JI workers join them in the struggle against the army rule.

The Qazi demanded the people seeking JI cooperation must not look towards the new dictator (Gen Musharraf) for reaching the power corridors. He said that March 23 would be a landmark in the history of the country.

Pledging to end the difference between religious and political parties for launching a joint struggle for the restoration of constitutional rule, he said “our constitution will be Islam, democracy and federal (system of) government.”

The Qazi threatened to launch a mass movement if the religious and Jihadi leaders were not released.

Speaking on the occasion, ARD chief Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan said it was useless to fight for a parliament that lacked autonomy and independence.

He said that the lawyers had objected to the inclusion of an army officer in the special courts on the plea that the army officer would psychologically affect the independent approach of the court.

“What will happen with the prime minister would be alone to face three chiefs of armed forces and the President Musharraf, also a representative of the army in the National Security Council?”

He criticized the army government for not protesting over the massacre of the Muslims in Gujarat, India. The protection of Indian Muslims was the joint responsibility of the Pakistan and Indian governments under the Liaquat-Nehru Pact.

Condemning the ban on Jihadi outfits, he said by taking the action the government had accepted the Indian allegation as true that Pakistan had been involved in cross-border terrorism.

Jamiat Ahle Hadith chief Prof Sajid Mir stressed upon the need for correcting the order of priorities. He urged that a struggle should be launched against those who had violated the constitution and ideology of the country.

He said the army never allowed democratic governments work independently. Even the worst democratic governments had not dared to arrest the leaders of Jihadi outfits, he said, adding the worst democracy was better than the army dictatorship.

Jamaat Al-Daawa’s acting Amir Hafiz Abdul Salam bin Muhammad said Afghanistan was attacked because the west was afraid that if Islam was implemented in its original shape anywhere and it started bearing fruits it would attract the other people due to its exemplary law and order and other teachings.

He urged the Indian Muslims to wage a Jihad like Kashmiris for getting liberation from the Indian yoke.

The AJK Amir of JI, Abdul Rashid Turrabi, said the steps of the government to make the country a secular state were negatively affecting the movement in Kashmir.

He said the steps were creating doubts in the minds of the mujahideen for they had been sacrificing their lives for making Kashmir a pact of an Islamic state and not a secular one.

Demanding release of the leaders of religious and Jihadi parties, he said their arrest was also hitting the freedom struggle. He also demanded on end to defensive policy on Kashmir.

PML-N’s Punjab general secretary Saad Rafiq regretted that all state agencies remained engaged round the clock in recovering US journalist Daniel Pearl but no concern was being shown for the release of thousands of Pakistanis imprisoned in Afghan jails and at US base in Cuba.

Referring to the leaders of various parties sitting on the stage, he said they were the natural allies.

Another PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal said the military government, despite all its powers, had failed in all fields during its two and half years rule.

He said no democratic government could have dared to hand over nuclear scientists to America nor it could have bowed to the pressure of the World Bank and the IMF in damaging the agriculture economy of the country.

Warning the leaders of a possible change in the constitution for making the country a secular state, he stressed the need for launching a joint movement against such plans and converting the next elections into a contest between the secular and pro-Islam elements.

Millat Party secretary-general Muhammad Ali Durrani opposed joining hands with those elements who had abandoned their workers and the country just to avoid imprisonment.

He said the governments which allow firing on citizens, attack on judiciary, plundering of the national exchequer and “hire” the judges could not be declared as democratic.