LAHORE, March 11: Qazi Husain Ahmad on Monday defended the offers of cooperation by his Jamaat-i-Islami to the Pakistan Muslim League and the Pakistan People’s Party, despite having made all sorts of allegations against their governments in the past and spearheading movements to dislodge them.
Talking to Dawn at his Mansoora office, he likened the situation created by the military regime to a jungle fire. It had forced all kinds of beasts, he said, to run for safety and to co-exist.
“A change in situation necessitates a shift in the thinking of political parties. A change in the attitude (of the Jamaat) is linked with a change in the attitude of other parties”, he explained.
The JI leader had said a day ago that his party was willing to cooperate with the PML and the PPP provided that they apologized to the nation for past mistakes and promise not to repeat them.
“We are willing to open a new chapter of relations with these parties provided there is some agreement on the contours of future governance and policies,” the JI leader said. He wanted the PPP and the PML to pledge that they would uphold the rule of law, respect merit and restrain themselves against ruling by whims. He said there was no justification in finding contradictions in the policy of his party.
He said the Jamaat had organized an all parties’ conference on Sept 16 on the basis of points of agreement. It had then participated in a similar moot on Dec 27 which was hosted by Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan. The two events, he argued, were the right time to point out any inconsistency in the Jamaat’s position.
Asked whether he was in contact with the leadership of the two parties, he said he had had indirect contact with the PML chief.
Lashing out at the Musharraf government for its pro-US policies and its endeavour to ‘secularize’ the entire system without regard to the ideological foundation of the country, the JI leader advised political and religious parties to launch a joint movement to mount pressure on the government to accept the seven-point charter of the all-parties conference and hold elections to restore democracy.
He predicted that as elections drew closer the movement would intensify and the government’s control on things would loosen.
Asked what options the government had after the Sept 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon other than joining the international coalition, the JI leader said Gen Pervez Musharraf had not even tried to look for an alternative strategy.
“If we are a weak nation, we should have tried to save ourselves, but there was no justification to strengthen the hands of the oppressors,” he said, implying that Pakistan should not have supported US-led strikes on Afghanistan.
He said it was regrettable that Gen Musharraf had ‘surrendered’ instantly on receiving a telephone call from President Bush. “It appears,” he said, “as if the rulers were in search of some opportunity to offer their services to the US (and the Sept 11 attacks provided the same).”
The JI chief said that before assuring cooperation to the US president, Gen Musharraf would have done well to seek time to consult political leaders and Pakistan’s time-tested friend China.
Answering a question, he said no party in the Muttahida Majlis-i-Aml was debarred from holding individual discussions with other parties for electoral adjustments. But, he said, it would be better to first work out some arrangements among themselves. They could then support other parties for seats none of them was contesting. He was of the view that rather than working out individual arrangements, the MMA should collectively approach other parties.
The JI chief is due to meet his JUP counterpart, Maulana Shah Ahmad Noorani, on March 16 to discuss the matter.
In response to a question, he said his party had decided to take part in the elections and simultaneously wage a struggle to have the APC’s seven-point charter accepted. If the government did not heed the APC’s demands, the JI would review the situation afresh before finally deciding to participate in the elections or boycotting them.
He said he would advise parties in the APC to follow the same strategy.
The JI chief said parties enjoying official patronage or those willing to be instrumental to some foreign powers in the attainment of their objectives would be treated as rivals. He refused to identify them by name, saying there was no need for it.
Answering another question, Qazi Husain Ahmad said there was a tremendous difference in the policies followed by the late president Zia and the ones being pursued by Gen Musharraf. Gen Zia, he recalled, had not repealed the Islamic provisions of the constitution or the Objectives Resolution.
He had also not changed the ideological direction of the country. But, he complained, Gen Musharraf was prepared to do anything under the US dictates to perpetuate himself in power. He also said he had never supported Gen Zia. Indeed, he said, he had refused to nominate JI people to the Majlis-i-Shoora.