LAHORE, May 7: It is the army and the ISI that have been dividing political parties and creating new factions among them, alleges Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam amir Maulana Fazlur Rahman.

The ISI used C-130 plane to transport Ulema for pressing Maulana Abdullah Darkhawasti not to merge his faction of the JUI with the main party (Fazlur Rahman group) when the latter had accepted the Maulana as the amir of the unified party, he told Dawn here on Tuesday.

When asked what could be the JUI’s reaction to the reported ban on factions of political parties, he said he wished that the government raise the issue and he could expose the (intelligence) agencies’ role in the making and breaking of sectarian and ethnic groups.

Asked if the JUI would favour the Jamaat-i-Islami’s decision of boycotting the October polls for fear of rigging, he said any decision in this regard would be taken keeping in view the contemporary conditions.

“If the government would push us to the wall by setting unfair rules of game we could go for the boycott option.”

Replying to a question about prolonged deployment of Indian troops on Pakistani borders, he said the Indian government wanted to put pressure on the Pakistan government to dictate its terms on the Kashmir issue.

He did not rule out the assertion that the deployment was aimed at curtailing the anti-Musharraf elements from going beyond a certain limit in agitating against the army government on the Afghan issue.

About the lawlessness in Karachi, he said it was the result of the ethnic prejudices which the government failed to control. “The army is not free from (holding accountable) religious elements. It will perhaps give attention to the ethnic issue after accomplishing its earlier task.”

About the collapse of alliances of religious parties, he said alliances were always formed keeping in view contemporary conditions and with the change of condition alliances might be abrogated.

Earlier speaking at a press conference, he warned the government that Pakistan could never become a safe base for the US troops and it must not risk the internal peace of the country by allowing American commandos conduct military action in tribal area. The JUI would observe Friday (May 10) as protest day by holding rallies at all district headquarters throughout the country to protest against operations by the US forces in the tribal areas, he said.

“Why the US troops have been given permission even for a limited operation in the tribal areas. Earlier, the government was saying that only logistics support was being extended to the coalition forces and now they are transgressing this policy,” the JUI amir said.

Tanks had been deployed around seminaries and around the unarmed people, he said, adding “we are doing our best to convince the people not to take the law into their hands but the steps of the government are instigating them.”

The Maulana said not a single bullet had been fired in the tribal area during the war on Taliban and Ulema played a big role in this regard. But, he said, it seemed that the government and the US were not interested in internal peace and they wanted to push the country towards anarchy and chaos.

The JUI would host an all parties Khatm-i-Nabuwat conference in Lahore on May 28 to adopt a joint stance on deletion of an affidavit (to the effect that the voter believes that Hazrat Muhammad is the last Prophet of Allah) from the voter’s form by the Election Commission.

Condemning the deletion, the JUI chief said the Qadiani lobby had emerged even stronger in the present setup. The government, by deleting the affidavit, had supported the community which did not believe in the Constitution and had always been indulging in conspiracies against the country.

Terming the April 30 presidential referendum a fraud, he said the Musharraf government had no constitutional or legal justification but after the referendum it had even lost all moral justifications.

About reports of divergence of opinion among the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal constituents, he said these issues would be raised at the May 13 summit meeting of the MMA and efforts would be made to remove all misunderstandings in this regard.

He demanded setting up of an interim government as the present government was openly canvassing for its allies. An impartial Election Commission was also the need of the hour to restore confidence of the people which it lost in the referendum.

Answering a question about keeping Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto out of politics, he said army generals had been saluting the corrupt when the latter were in power.

“Musharraf too will have been saluting the plunderer (Nawaz Sharif) had the latter not issued his termination orders.”