RAWALPINDI: President Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and Amir Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Qazi Hussain Ahmad on Tuesday (Aug 22) justified tearing copies of the Women Protection Bill, saying the bill was tantamount to making a mockery of the directives of the Holy Qur’aan and Sunnah. “We will repeat the act like tearing copies of the bill on the floor of the National Assembly if such attempts are made against teachings of the Holy Qur’aan and Sunnah,” Qazi said while speaking at a meet-the-press programme of the Rawalpindi press club here.
Responding to a question about the behaviour of MMA parliamentarians on Monday, Qazi said changes in the Hudood Ordinance in the name of protection of women’s rights amounts to revolt against the Holy Qur’aan. “The government wants to promote obscenity in the garb of women protection,” he alleged. Replying to another question, the JI leader said they did not want to recall any differences or bitter experience with the Pakistan People’s Party or its chairperson when the whole opposition was united against the “dictatorship” of General Pervez Musharraf. “We are united on one-point agenda and do not want any differences with the PPP or Benazir at this stage,” he said.
He said the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Pakistan People’s Party have different manifestoes on which they would contest general elections but they were united on one-point agenda of removing General Musharraf and ensuring supremacy of the Constitution and parliament. He told another questioner that the differences on Protection of Women’s Rights Bill between the MMA and the PPP would not surface during the no-confidence move. “The no-confidence move will succeed if some members of the ‘puppet’ government support us,” he said.
The MMA chief said nobody should have misconception that fair and free elections would be held under General Musharraf who “deceived the whole nation and backed out of his promise to quit as Army chief by December 31, 2005”. “As General Musharraf backed out of his promise, the MMA is also not bound to uphold the 17th amendment in the constitution,” Qazi said. He alleged that General Musharraf had “committed high treason by ‘subverting the Constitution’”.
He maintained that fair and transparent elections could be held only when Musharraf quits and polls are held under an interim government and independent election commission. He said if elections are held under General Musharraf, “Ghunda” organisations like the Muttahida Qaumi Movement would be given a free hand to achieve results at its own by the use of force. He questioned how the Muttahida won two seats from Karachi while in recent Kashmir elections it could not secure more than 200 votes. “General Musharraf is directly patronising a Ghunda organisation which is prospering on ‘Bhattas’ (extortion) and ‘terror’,” he said.
When quizzed about the launching of a march towards Islamabad after the September 6 public meeting at Liaquat Bagh, Rawalpindi, Qazi said they would decide on the same when the time comes. He said the MMA and other opposition parties wanted to relieve the Pakistan Army of the burden of politics, which is in its (Army) own and the country’s interest. “We want harmony between the army and people which can be achieved only when the army accepts supremacy of elected representatives and democratic institutions,” he said.
He also criticised the government decision of imposing ban on distribution of pamphlets outside mosques saying it amounts to suppressing the voice of the masses. “The MMA leaders and parliamentarians, including myself, will defy the ban by distributing pamphlets in front of mosques,” he said. He recalled that it was the motivation of people, which defeated a country like Israel. “It were the people of Lebanon, not the army which defeated Israel,” he said. Qazi strongly condemned the government for giving threats of use of nuclear weapons against any hot pursuit in Kashmir, saying it reflected a defeated mind. “The nuclear weapons are kept for deterrence and not for use in war,” he said. He also alleged that government was taking U-turn on the Kashmir issue saying it had joined India in calling Kashmiri Mujahideen as terrorists.
Source: The News
Date:8/23/2006
