SUKKUR, March 18: Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal president Qazi Hussain Ahmed has said that the US wants to deprive Pakistan of its nuclear assets and hinted that the visit of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Pakistan was aimed at putting pressure on it to allow access to Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan. Speaking at a reception hosted by Naib Amir of Jamaat-i-Islami MNA Asadullah Bhutto here on Friday, Mr Ahmed painted a gloomy picture of the state of affairs of the country and held the army and judiciary responsible for it.
Frequent army interference in politics and validation of martial law by the judiciary under the law of necessity had destroyed political fibre of the country and resulted in alienation of people from the affairs of the country, he said and termed it a dangerous trend.
He said that under article-242 of the constitution, the army officers pledged not to take part into politics but the army chiefs dishonoured the oath by taking over the reins of power at gunpoint. Now the three armed services chiefs had been made the members of a political institution, the National Security Council, which was against basic principles of the constitution, he said.
The Qazi deplored that judiciary had come to the rescue of the army by validating their rule under the law of necessity. He recalled that when the Jamaat Islami filed a petition against the Legal Framework Order, it was informed by the judges that they had taken the oath under the PCO and not under the 1973 constitution, therefore, they were unable to hear the case.
He said that the judges were bound by their oath to protect the constitution but deplored that whenever there was an army rule, they bowed down before pressure.
He also criticized the political parties, which had ruled the country in the past, for being equally responsible for the current situation. They had indulged in corruption and malpractices, which had led to disappointment among the people, he added.
The MMA had decided to take the people into confidence and prepare them to play an active role in politics for changing their socio-economic conditions, he said and gave a call for strike on April 2.
The Qazi said that the sole role of the army was to defend frontiers of the country and they had no role in the politics. A gulf of hatred had been created between the army and the people and the army had lost its real role of being a professional army.
According to him, the only way to rid the country of dictatorship was to launch a massive movement. On the one hand, only a few people are becoming rich and, on the other, a vast majority of the people had been deprived of basic needs of life, he regretted.
He said that their economic interests and defence apparatus were under the threat of the enemy and added that the nuclear hero of Pakistan, Dr Khan, had been kept in solitary confinement.
He said that Dr Khan?s telephone lines had been cut off and nobody was allowed to see him, except with the permission of the authorities and in the presence of officials of intelligence agencies.
He took strong exception to an announcement made by President Gen Pervez Musharraf that Pakistan would remain neutral in case of a US attack on Iran, and recalled Iran?s support to Pakistan during the 1965 war.
He paid tribute to the lawyers for their valiant struggle for democratic rights and condemned the government for use of force against protesting lawyers in Rawalpindi. He said that there was a unity among the opposition parties.
Frequent army interference in politics and validation of martial law by the judiciary under the law of necessity had destroyed political fibre of the country and resulted in alienation of people from the affairs of the country, he said and termed it a dangerous trend.
He said that under article-242 of the constitution, the army officers pledged not to take part into politics but the army chiefs dishonoured the oath by taking over the reins of power at gunpoint. Now the three armed services chiefs had been made the members of a political institution, the National Security Council, which was against basic principles of the constitution, he said.
The Qazi deplored that judiciary had come to the rescue of the army by validating their rule under the law of necessity. He recalled that when the Jamaat Islami filed a petition against the Legal Framework Order, it was informed by the judges that they had taken the oath under the PCO and not under the 1973 constitution, therefore, they were unable to hear the case.
He said that the judges were bound by their oath to protect the constitution but deplored that whenever there was an army rule, they bowed down before pressure.
He also criticized the political parties, which had ruled the country in the past, for being equally responsible for the current situation. They had indulged in corruption and malpractices, which had led to disappointment among the people, he added.
The MMA had decided to take the people into confidence and prepare them to play an active role in politics for changing their socio-economic conditions, he said and gave a call for strike on April 2.
The Qazi said that the sole role of the army was to defend frontiers of the country and they had no role in the politics. A gulf of hatred had been created between the army and the people and the army had lost its real role of being a professional army.
According to him, the only way to rid the country of dictatorship was to launch a massive movement. On the one hand, only a few people are becoming rich and, on the other, a vast majority of the people had been deprived of basic needs of life, he regretted.
He said that their economic interests and defence apparatus were under the threat of the enemy and added that the nuclear hero of Pakistan, Dr Khan, had been kept in solitary confinement.
He said that Dr Khan?s telephone lines had been cut off and nobody was allowed to see him, except with the permission of the authorities and in the presence of officials of intelligence agencies.
He took strong exception to an announcement made by President Gen Pervez Musharraf that Pakistan would remain neutral in case of a US attack on Iran, and recalled Iran?s support to Pakistan during the 1965 war.
He paid tribute to the lawyers for their valiant struggle for democratic rights and condemned the government for use of force against protesting lawyers in Rawalpindi. He said that there was a unity among the opposition parties.
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