KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain on Sunday sought to spare the metropolis from all sorts of violence, calling for a pledge from the citizens – belonging to the various ethnicities – that they would, once and for all, sink their differences and no longer fight with each other under any circumstances.
Hussain, while addressing a party gathering at Jinnah ground organised for the Pashtun and Hazara communities residing in the city by telephone, impressed upon his MQM workers to protect businesses and properties of the Pashtuns in their respective areas.He exhorted the Muhajirs, Pashtuns, Hazarewal and people of other ethnicities to resolve they would give blood for protection of each other and would never taint their hands with blood of each other.
The MQM chief claimed that the message of the meeting was love among the oppressed and downtrodden Pakistanis who, according to him, had been deprived even of their basic rights. He insisted that feudal lords were creating acrimonies among different ethnic groups and pitting them against each other.Hussain, however, observed that the Pashtuns living in Karachi came here to eke out a living since the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province lacked in employment opportunities.
The MQM chief appealed to the federal and KP governments to create more job opportunities by setting up industries. He asserted that unemployment should be eliminated. Hussain also said that the people of FATA had given immense sacrifices for the country but unfortunately they remained deprived of education facilities and employment opportunities. “This deprivation people must be removed,” he asserted as he called for the provision of basic facilities of education and health to them.
Hussain meanwhile directed MQM Senators, MNAs and MPAs to work for redressal of the problems of areas inhabited by the Pashtuns and Hazarewal on urgent basis. Referring to the soaring energy crisis in the country, the MQM chief demanded the government to set aside all other issues and tend to the shortage of gas and electricity which, according to him, was aggravating with each passing day.
About the election of Raja Pervaiz Ashraf as the country’s prime minister, Hussain insinuated that the government did accept the Supreme Court’s orders on the disqualification of former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. The MQM chief said that the next general elections would be held after a few months, and hence all political parties must unitedly work for stability of the country and democracy, asserting that the continuation of democracy was in favour of Pakistan. He also said that anti-democracy conspiracies must be ended or else “our integrity would be in jeopardy”.
He said that half of the country had already been lost, and the remaining must be secured by continuing democracy.Hussain said that all state institutions must act within their constitutional ambit and must desist from overstepping their respective domains. He, however, warned that the country was encircled in innumerable dangers that called for unity and solidarity instead of divisions and animosities.
Hussain said that instead of fighting with each other, “we should observe tolerance and display unity and solidarity for the sake of the country’s security. He appealed to the people to change the atmosphere in Karachi by protecting each other. He said that the Pashtuns should go to the Urdu-speaking areas freely and likewise, the Urdu-speaking people should be able to go to the Pashtun-dominated areas without any sense of fear. Hussain asked the audience to show the traditional discipline of the MQM by remaining silent for one minute.
Speaking on the occasion, MQM Coordination Committee Deputy Convener Dr Farooq Sattar said the public meeting would prove to be an important landmark for bringing peace and harmony in Karachi. He said that peace would bring progress and progress would bring prosperity for Pakistan.
