QUETTA, July 30: Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said that the Ummah is facing the onslaught of western world led by the United States, which has occupied Afghanistan and Iraq and is destabilising Lebanon, while the pro-US government in Pakistan is harming the interest of the Muslim world.

Speaking at a function at Jamia Mutala Ulum here on Sunday, he claimed that the MMA was the only ideological and political force which could protect the interests of Pakistan and the Ummah.

He accused President Pervez Musharraf of weakening vital national institutions, including parliament, the Islamic Ideological Council, the judiciary, the federal parliamentary system and the federating units, at the behest of foreign forces.

“Mr Musharraf has made parliament subservient to army establishment, changed Islamic laws, transformed the parliamentary system into a unitary form of government and infringed upon provincial autonomy to strengthen the control of the General Headquarters, he said.

He said the steps taken by the rulers had endangering the unity among people and harmony between the federation and the provinces. Such a situation would put the nation’s integrity at stake, he warned.

He claimed that raids on madaressahs and challenging their sanads in the courts were aimed at pressuring the MMA into compromising with the government. He said Gen Musharraf could not undermine the role of religious institutions.

Criticising the military operation in Balochistan, he held the government and tribal chiefs responsible for the situation.

He said the tribal system could be changed through a political process and unilateral decisions against people of Balochistan would weaken the federation.

QAZI CONDMENS: Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed has said that the struggle launched by the alliance will continue until the end of army rule.

Speaking at a meeting of the Jamaat-i-Islami, he said President Pervez Musharraf was protecting the interests of the United States at the cost of the Ummah. He said the rulers could not safeguard the rights of Muslims.

He said the army was not ready to fight against anti-Islamic forces and it was protecting the interests of land, cement and other mafias.

He said the democratic forces would succeed in their struggle against dictatorship.

He said innocent Muslims would continue to suffer oppression of infidel forces unless pro-Washington Muslim rulers were ousted.