Musharraf must resign before general elections: MMA

By Mohammad Imran

ISLAMABAD: The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) supreme council has unanimously decided that President Pervez Musharraf should resign from the president and army chief offices before the general elections.

MMA Deputy Secretary General Liaqat Baloch told reporters after the supreme council meeting at MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmed’s residence on Monday that chances of fair and free elections in Musharraf’s presence were unlikely.

The supreme council also demanded the establishment of an independent election commission that was acceptable to opposition parties, he said. The supreme council also said leaders of the NWFP MMA should not give statements against each other.

Sources said the MMA supreme council failed to settle the recent rift between the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) that had appeared during the local council elections.Sources said that during the meeting Qazi and MMA Secretary General Maulana Fazlur Rehman argued over the differences between the MMA in the NWFP. Both men accused each other of not giving importance to the other for the third phase of the local council elections, sources added.

The meeting also decided that both parties would honour the agreements made with other political parties for the third phase of the local council elections, sources said.

The issue of religious seminaries was also discussed and the meeting decided that seminaries would not register themselves and that the MMA would convene a national convention to discuss the issue. Liaqat Baloch said the supreme council criticised the government’s decision to repatriate foreign students studying in seminaries. He also said the MMA would remain united despite government attempts to create differences between the religious alliance.

He said the JI would hold a National Consultation Conference on September 4 in which all major political parties of the country would participate to come up with a national policy and national stand.

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