HYDERABAD, Nov 20: The Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party Chairman Dr Qadir Magsi said on Tuesday that to believe that the elections under the interim set-up with its reins in the hands of Gen Musharraf would be fair, free, impartial and transparent was nothing but wishful thinking.

Mr Magsi said at a gathering of party workers at the Taraqqi Pasand House after his release from jail late on Monday night that Gen Musharraf was to blame for all the acts of terrorism in the country in which thousands of innocent people lost their lives. He should, therefore, resign, he added.

He demanded that impartial interim governments should be appointed at the federal and provincial level and believed that the democracy was simply unthinkable without the independence of judiciary and media.

He said that Gen Musharraf who only wanted to perpetuate his own rule had bulldozed the judiciary, the most important pillar of the state, tampered with the constitution, trampled over the fundamental rights of 160 million people and put the press in chains. Such a person could not restore democracy, he said.

Mr Magsi said that Gen Musharraf and his allies considered the judiciary and the media threats to their rule hence the imposition of emergency to shake these pillars.

The democratic forces and the people at large should launch a joint struggle for the withdrawal of emergency and Provisional Constitution Order, restoration of constitution and the reinstatement of Chief Justice of Pakistan and other superior courts judges, he stressed.

He said that the arrests and incarcerations could not intimidate the democratic forces and the struggle would continue unabated till the overthrow of dictatorship.

JI: Deputy general secretary of the Sindh chapter of Jamaat-i-Islami Abdul Waheed Qureshi said on Tuesday that the press and the judiciary were under attack in the emergency.

He said at a reception held at the Jamaat office after his release from central jail that fear of arrests and jails could not stop people’s struggle for the restoration of constitution.

Mr Qureshi who is also president of Hyderabad chapter of MMA condemned the arrests of journalists in Hyderabad and police action against their colleagues in Karachi and paid tribute to all the party workers who had offered sacrifices for the cause of democracy.