KARACHI, Feb 5: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement's coordination committee bitterly criticized Jamaat-i-Islami and other religious parties for giving strike call to express solidarity with Abdul Qadeer Khan and other nuclear scientists.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the Muttahida leaders urged the JI not to politicize the issue and maintained that if it had any love for A.Q. Khan they should step down from city government.

The MQM coordination committee pointed out that Qazi Hussain Ahmad was making statements in support of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, whom he had been calling security risk in the past.

The committee criticized the JI for remaining silent over June 19 operation against MQM workers and becoming part of the Martial Law government. The JI was also criticized for unleashing terror on the Bengali people through Al Badr and Al Shams.

The Muttahida leaders claimed that when the opposition in Balochistan Assembly had moved a resolution in support of nuclear scientists, the MMA and the JI had defeated it. But, now it was calling for a strike on the same issue that exposed its double standards.

The MQM committee called upon people not to support the call for strike.