The Amir, Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), Qazi Hussain Ahmed on Friday has urged the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) to impeach the President, Pervez Musharraf, since the parties enjoy requisite strength in the Parliament to take the move.
While addressing a press conference after the meeting of Markazi Majlis-e-Shoora, he observed that the coalition partners could easily attain two-third of the majority in the joint parliamentary session, but they were hesitant to impeach the President, since the US has not yet okayed a green signal in this regard.
'The people have given mandate to these two parties for restoration of the deposed judges and removal of the President, however, the presidential issue appears to be the main cause of rift between the coalition forces', he added.
The JI leader also said, the dream of true democracy cannot be materialised till the President stays in the power. 'Thus, it is imperative that the coalition government removes Musharraf from the Presidency and JI would give its full support to the leaders of coalition partners', he added. Ahmed told newsmen that the JI has invited lawyers, civil society members and opposition parties to attend national conference being held next month.
'Prevailing political situation would be discussed in the conference and also a strategy would be devised on the judges issue', he said adding that 'We would not accept restoration of judges without the former Chief Justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry'.
Commenting on the appointment of Salman Taseer as new Punjab Governor, he said that it is interesting to see the Co-chairmen, PPP, Asif Ali Zardari was refusing to accept resignations of the PML-N's ministers while his party has appointed a new Governor without consulting its coalition partners. 'The appointment of Salman Taseer would further widen the differences between the two major partners of the government', he regretted.
Moreover, the JI Amir observed that the rejection of Sharifs nomination papers in the general elections and their acceptance in the bye-elections has made it clear that the Election Commission was not independent during the February 18 elections.
Further, Ahmed accused the government of not making serious efforts to resolve the problems that were being faced by the masses. 'The sky rocketing prices of commodities and other essential items have put people on unbearable miseries', he added. The Secretary General, JI, Munawar Hassan and Information Secretary, Amirul Azeem were also present during the press session.