LAHORE, April 21: Jamaat-i-Islami amir Qazi Husain Ahmad said on Sunday Gen Pervez Musharraf wanted to establish an authoritarian government in the country.

“The referendum is being held to undermine the supremacy of parliament,” he told reporters after his release.

The JI chief said government officials were openly saying that the objective behind the referendum was to save (the president) from the blackmail of the assemblies.

“Only an arrogant ruler will avoid public representatives’ counselling,” he said, adding: “He (Musharraf) knows that he will be unable to achieve his goals in case an advisory system and institutions are established in the country. He considers himself all wise and is not ready to bow before the will of the masses,” the Qazi said.

According to him, there had been abortive attempts in the past to establish dictatorship and this one was also doomed to fail. He said his arrest was aimed at checking the Tahaffuz-i-Pakistan caravan. But it could not be stopped.

He said the march was peaceful but the government took action against it at a time when democratic norms demanded that the people heard the opposition point of view on the referendum.

“The rulers are allowing one-way traffic and are misguiding the masses through electronic media and other sources.”

Answering a question, he denied that he had threatened anyone. “We are with the unarmed masses. We do not allow our workers even to keep knives. We just want restoration of the Constitution and give the people their rights. These are not threats. These are lawful public demands.”

Answering another question, he said that he would go to Islamabad to attend Supreme Court proceedings on his writ petition against referendum on Monday morning if he was not barred (from doing so).

Replying to yet another query, he said he could not find a chance to consult the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal leadership before the caravan.

The Jamaat amir will address the Rawalpindi High Court Bar on April 23, Lahore High Court Bar on April 24, and Karachi Bar on April 25.

Speaking to Jamaat workers before his arrest, Qazi Husain Ahmad said the country had been created through a democratic struggle and could sustain its independence through the same process. “It does not need the services of any dictator for its independence.”

He said millions of people were owners and protectors of the country and they would not accept the rule of any dictator.

Saying Musharraf had lost referendum by banning the long march of the Jamaat, he appealed to the masses to remain indoors on April 30 to prove that they were against the “unconstitutional step.”

Urging the party activists to remain peaceful, he said his party had no enmity with the administration. It was against the Musharraf group which, he said, had sold the nation to the US.

He said Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan would hold an all parties conference on April 26 and Maulana Noorani, Maulana Fazlur Rehman and other leaders of the MMA had been approached in this regard.

He said the Jamaat would go by the APC decision whether it decided to observe strike on April 30 or just boycotted the referendum.

CONDEMNED: Jamaat-i-Islami amir Qazi Husain Ahmad has condemned police baton charge of press photographers outside party’s Rawalpindi offices while arresting JI workers.

He said the rulers had lost their senses after seeing public reaction to the “unconstitutional” referendum.

Saying the rulers were misusing the state machinery against the national press, he urged the journalists community to completely boycott the coverage of official functions.

He said the administration had been intentionally given a free hand to attack the press and it was not a “mistake” by any individual.

Meanwhile, JI naib amir and Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal’s coordination committee chief Liaquat Baloch, after his release from police custody here on Sunday, said Gen Musharraf had allowed the anti-referendum political parties to hold meetings and processions challenging that the public would not support them.

But, he said, the general lost the psychological war with the first programme of the Jamaat.

He welcomed the April 26 all parties conference, terming it a well-timed decision.