HYDERABAD, Sept 12: Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal leader and Jamaat-i-Islami Amir Qazi Hussain Ahmed has said that there will be no let-up in the opposition’s struggle till Gen Pervez Musharraf is removed from power.

He was speaking at a ‘meet the press programme’ organized by the Hyderabad Press Club on Monday.

He said the National Leaders’ Conference (NLC) had adopted unanimous resolutions and issued a joint communiqué that the government of Pervez Musharraf was illegal and unconstitutional and demanded that he should step down.

He said in Sindh unprecedented rigging had taken place and in Punjab results were changed and defeated candidates were declared victorious.

“In one constituency in Karachi, 750 votes were rejected by stamping them twice and in a Lahore constituency, a candidate who had obtained 1,500 votes, was declared successful against his rival who had obtained 2,800 votes” he said.

He claimed the NWFP government did not interfere in the election process.

He said it was due to the shameful rigging that the Islamabad conference had come to conclusion that fair and free national elections could not be held under Pervez Musharraf and he should be removed through people’s power.

The MMA chief said policies being pursued by Musharraf were extremely dangerous for the country.

Qazi Hussain Ahmed said the Quaid-i-Azam had declared Kashmir “the juggler vein of Pakistan” but Pervez Musharraf had put the issue on the back-burner and dubbed Kashmiri freedom fighters as terrorists.

He criticized Musharraf’s U-turn on consistent policies of Pakistan with regards to Palestine and recalled that since 1933, the All-India Muslim League and then the Pakistan Muslim League had opposed creation of a Jewish state.

He said the Quaid-i-Azam had termed Israel as “an illegitimate child” and Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan had told a Jewish lobby “Gentlemen, our souls are not for sale.”

Qazi Hussain Ahmed said for all practical purposes, there was no such thing as a state of Israel as aliens from eighty different countries speaking different languages and belonging to different cultures had been brought to Palestine and settled at the cost of Palestinians.

He said the irony was that thousands of Palestinians were still living in refugee camps.

He said evacuation of Israelis from a piece of Gaza was a big fraud with the world and the Israelis could return any time.

The MMA chief criticized the meeting between foreign ministers of Pakistan and Israel and termed it as de facto recognition of Israel by Pakistan.

He said the meeting was held on no other day but the sacred day of Shab-i-Mairaj.

Qazi Hussain Ahmed claimed that Pervez Musharraf had no locus standi or legal and constitutional authority to take decisions of far-reaching nature which would have enormous repercussions on Pakistan.

He said the opposition was very serious in launching a movement against Musharraf and it would not rest at peace till his removal.

He said the opposition wanted to introduce a democratic and decent system and it was prepared to offer sacrifices in furtherance of this objective.

He cautioned the army that it should not make itself controversial. He said the social contract between the federation and provinces had not been honoured and provinces have been denied autonomy.

Qazi Hussain Ahmed said the Objective Resolution had never been implemented and fundamental rights of the people specially minorities and women have been constantly violated.

He said that Pervez Musharraf had destroyed the judiciary and it was most unfortunate that the superior judiciary had always given its decisions in favour of martial law governments.

He said the steering committee appointed at the National Leaders’ Conference was in session and it would chalk out future course of action of the peoples’ movement.

Replying to a question, he said after removal of Pervez Musharraf, all constitutional amendments including the 17th amendment brought about by Musharraf will be deleted from statute books.

PLEA: The Gazetted Officers’ Association (schools) administration, Hyderabad chapter, at a meeting held here on Saturday appealed to the Sindh government to resolve problems of gazetted officers.