Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (The MMA Political Party and the largest Islamic Political Group in Pakistan) President Qazi Hussain Ahmad said on Monday that if President General Pervez Musharraf refused to step down, the religious alliance would lead a “long march” towards Islamabad to throw him out of power.
He said that General Musharraf’s anti-Islamic and pro-American policies had pushed the country towards chaos. “We will continue our protest till President Musharraf quits,” he added.
He said Pakistan’s nuclear programme was put at US disposal and then Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan was put under house arrest.
He claimed that the MMA had provided a platform to Muslims to struggle against “American puppets”. He said that several governments were toppled because of their struggle, but the generals and “American stooges” grabbed power. Qazi urged people not to support generals and American stooges. He said that obscenity was being spread in society through the electronic media, while the president called it enlightened moderation.
Qazi is a long time nemesis to Pakistani President Musharref.
Other Parties to join strike call on March 31st:
The Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) on Monday announced its support to the strike calls separately given by MMA and PONM.
The PPP, the mainstream member party of ARD, also decided to support the shutter-down and wheel-jam strike call given by the Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement (PONM) on March 31.
Announcing this, a spokesperson of the party said that PPP has all along expressed solidarity with the teeming masses groaning under the wheel of exploitation set in motion by military dictators.
The party also believes in peaceful political struggle to protest against the wrong policies of the rulers which have multiplied miseries of the people, he said. He said that the people were already alienated, as the current political dispensation is based on fraudulent referendum, rigged elections and politically motivated accountability.
The rising inflation, unemployment, throwing out of civilians from jobs to accommodate serving and retired military officers, the military operation in Balochistan and undertaking of mega projects without consensus over them has further increased the alienation of the people, he said.
It is for these reasons that the party has decided to back the PONM call for a complete strike within the framework of the 1973 Constitution, the spokesman said.
