Qazi Hussain Ahmed resigns National Assembly seat

Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the president of the Muttahida Majalis Amal (MMA), resigned his National Assembly seat on Monday.

Islamabad, July 23 : Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the president of the Muttahida Majalis Amal (MMA), resigned his National Assembly seat on Monday.

In his letter of resignation, Hussain said that parliament was being neglected and whims of an individual )President General Pervez Musharraf) were being imposed across the country.

He also claimed that the military operations in Balochistan, Waziristan, Bajaur and Lal Masjid had created a wide distance the people and the military, and therefore, his continuance as a Member of the National Assembly was meaningless.

Qazi Hussain Ahmed was born in 1938 at Ziarat Kaka Sahib in Nowshera District, North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). His father Qazi Muhammad Abdul Rab, a farmer by profession, was also well versed in Islamic religious sciences.

After having completed early education at home, Qazi Hussain Ahmed was admitted to Islamia College, Peshawar and got his Masters of Science (M.Sc.) degree in Geography from the University of Peshawar. He served as lecturer for three years, teaching at the graduate level in SWAT NWFP. Inclined more towards business, he did not continue teaching and instead started his own business.

His affiliation with the Islamic Movement started in his school days when he joined the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba, a militant islamic organization known for promoting violence and fundamentalism in educational institutions in Pakistan.

He became member of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan in 1978, and was elected the Ameer of the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan in 1987. He continues to serve in that capacity, getting re-elected twice.

Despite bashing PML(N) and PPP for promoting family members in politics and transforming political parties into a family business based on cronyism rather than democracy, he got his daughter, Mrs.Samia Raheel Qazi, who is an active member of Jamaat's women wing ,elected as member of the national assembly in 2002. She was a staunch opponent of the women rights bill proposed by Musharraf government. The bill was aimed to protect the rights of rape victims.

Qazi Hussain Ahmed was first elected as member of the Senate of Pakistan in 1986 for a term of six years. He was re-elected as such in March 1992, but he resigned in 1996 as a protest against the corrupt political system.

Ahmed has widely travelled abroad to represent the Jamaat at the international forums, leading goodwill missions as well as in his personal capacity to mediate on issues concerning the Muslim Ummah.

As the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) President Qazi Hussain Ahmed has repeatedly termed the holding of both the offices of president and army chief by General Pervez Musharraf as unlawful and immoral. He is on record as saying that Musharraf should have taken off his uniform after December 31, 2004, as he had pledged.

ANI