Jamaat-e-Islami Amir Qazi Hussein Ahmad has advised the political parties, participating in the polls, to join the drive of the movement and boycott the polls. He was addressing a public meeting, organised by All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) at Football Stadium here on Tuesday.
The meeting was attended by about 2000 activists of the component parties amid tight security. Every entrant to the venue had to pass through security check. Qazi Hussain Ahmed said the polls are drama staged by President Pervez Musharraf to validate his "illegal and unconstitutional" steps. He said that in the presence of President Musharraf, the holding of free, fair and transparent polls was impossible, and added that free and fair polls required independent judiciary and free media.
He alleged that President Musharraf had put 63 judges, including former Chief Justice of Supreme Court under house arrests for their refusal to budge before the pressure of the government.
Mahmood Khan Achakzai, convenor of APDM and chairman of nationalist Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PMAP), said that the country was being occupied by usurpers, saying the movement would retrieve Pakistan of their occupation to provide equal rights to oppressed and deprived nation.
Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan vowed that he was going to make another attempt of entering into Karachi and challenge the government to foil his bid. "I am making fourth attempt of entering into Karachi with preparation and asking the government and its ally Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) to foil his bid," he challenged.
He urged the masses to boycott February 18 polls in support of the APDM campaign against the "dictatorial" government of President Pervez Musharraf. He alleged that President Musharraf was killing his own people to appease President Bush. He said that before 9/11, there were neither terrorism nor suicide bombings in the tribal belt, but the rulers, in alliance with the United States, unleashed a reign of terror on the innocent tribesmen.
Imran criticised President Musharraf for the loss of human lives in the name of collateral damages, saying no law of the world allowed the killing women and children. He said the APDM would put Musharraf on trial for the heavy collateral damages in the war on terror in tribal belt.