MULTAN, Dec 5: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal has threatened to take its protest drive to streets if the government does not announce, by Dec 19, implementation of the agreement that Gen Musharraf will shed his uniform at the end of the current year.

The alliance leaders were addressing a public meeting organized here on Sunday at the Qasim Bagh as part of their ongoing protest drive against the dual offices of Gen Musharraf.

The highlight of the day was the participation of ARD leaders Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Khwaja Saad Rafiq. National Assembly's former speaker Syed Fakhar Imam also attended the meeting. They also addressed the gathering to lend support to the MMA voice.

In his key address, Qazi Hussain Ahmed said that after Dec 19 the MMA would give a countrywide strike call against the uniform of Gen Musharraf and then a long march towards Islamabad could also be launched to press the general to shed his uniform.

He said all the governmental claims about economic revival were false as unemployment, poverty and price hike had increased to the alarming proportions during the five years of Musharraf regime. He said the people of Pakistan would not tolerate dictatorship any longer.

NA opposition leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that the MMA had struck a deal on the Legal Framework Order with the government after annoying its friends in ARD only to ensure restoration of constitution but now Musharraf was backing out.

He said the country had no foreign policy under the Musharraf regime as it had been following rather blindly whatever was being dictated from the western powers. He said that the army had no right to rule the country or intervene in the political affairs. "They (army men) are servants and they should behave like servants," he stressed.

He said that Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif had remained prime ministers of the country and they had all the right to do politics on the soil of their native country.

Liaquat Baloch said that more dams were definitely needed to meet future requirements of water but they would threaten federation of the country if they were constructed under the barrel of the gun. He claimed that the release of Asif Zardari was the outcome of MMA's anti-Musharraf drive.

Terming the present parliament a rubber stamp, PPP's Shah Mehmood Qureshi said it had lost whatever little prestige it had been enjoying in the public eye after approving the dual office bill as act of the parliament.

He said the ARD resolve for the restoration of democracy in the country remained unchallenged whether it was the controversial referendum, LFO or the dual office bill. He said the opponents of the Two-Nation Theory were enjoying ministries in the federal and provincial cabinets formed under the military rule.

Syed Fakhar Imam stressed for the rule of law and harmony among the politicians. PML-N's Khwaja Saad Rafiq said that it was good omen for the democracy in the country that ARD and MMA were joining hands against the despotic rule of Gen Musharraf.

"The Multan meeting will prove beginning of the formation of a grand opposition alliance against Gen Musharraf," he added. Prominent among other speakers were Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, Shabbir Hashmi, Prof Sajid Mir, Qari Gul Rehman, Hafiz Idrees of Jamaat-i- Islami and Hafiz Idrees of JUI-S.

The public turn out to listen the MMA leaders was not encouraging to say the least but the alliance leadership alleged that the government did not allow motorcades from other areas to attend the meeting.

AFP ADDS: Participants chanted anti-US and anti-Musharraf slogans at the Multan rally, the second in a series of four, organized by the Islamic alliance. The campaign against Musharraf began last week with a big demonstration in Karachi. Rallies are also planned in Lahore and finally in Rawalpindi.