ISLAMABAD, Dec 17: Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami Qazi Hussain Ahmed has said that the return of exiled leaders owes to a covert deal with the military government under the cover of National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) to indemnify their corruption worth Rs 100 billion.

Addressing the Islamabad Bar Council here on Monday, he stated that the so called power that be allowed the exiled leaders to return back to the country and withdrew all corruption charges against them under a give and take policy. "The leaders have been given amnesty from all corruption charges by the military government to cover up its own corruption," he said.

He further said that it is regrettable that "in our country an ordinary defaulter of Rs 3000 goes to prison while a person guilty of corruption worth Rs 100 billion becomes the prime minister." He also criticized the political parties who backtracked from its decision of polls boycott and said that they deceived the nation by taking U-turn regarding election boycott.

Qazi Hussain Ahmad said that his party would stand firm on its stance of restoring the judiciary and would not become party to participate in the sham elections. He said that lawyers' community would hold public meetings to futile the process of fraud election and would run an organized campaign against the elections.

Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami said that he has left no other option but to launch a protest campaign against the government. He said that contesting the upcoming elections would be tantamount to take oath under Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO).

Commenting on some political parties' statements that the upcoming polls would be a referendum against the government, Qazi said that how they could call it referendum as the Election Commission was not an independent body.

The JI ameer said that he was wondering why the opposition parties wanted to become part of "dummy parliament" by contesting the elections as they tendered resignations from the previous parliament on the grounds that it was not independent.

He said that Jamaat-e-Islami was not running away from the polls but wanted to restore the deposed judges including former Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. The JI, he said, had a good track record in the previous elections as it won 27 seats in the National Assembly and 29 in the Frontier Assembly besides winning seats in the other provincial assemblies.

Qazi Sahib said that his party was boycotting the polls on one-point agenda that it would not take part in the election till restoration of the judiciary. He said that his decision of polls boycott was final as there could be no fair and free elections without restoring the judiciary.


He said that restoration of constitution and judiciary were must for holding of fair, free and transparent elections. "The coming parliament wouldn't be free and independent without restoring the country's constitution and judiciary," he added. He went on to say: "There will be selection instead of elections," and added that only restoration of the constitution and judiciary would guarantee free and fair election.


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