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| June 16, 2003 | Monday | Rabi-us-Sani 15, 1424 |
KARACHI: Altaf for LoC as permanent border
KARACHI, June 15: Muttahida Quami Movement chief Altaf Hussain has urged India and Pakistan to consider accepting the Line of Control as a permanent border.
A hand-out issued by the MQM international secretariat on Sunday says that speaking to party workers during the Silver Jubilee celebrations of the All Pakistan Mohajir Students’ Organization, in London, Mr Hussain called upon India and Pakistan to resolve their bilateral issues, including that of Kashmir, through negotiations and not through war.
He said: “India and Pakistan must now decide that they would never go to war and resolve all issues, including that of Kashmir, through meaningful dialogue and negotiations. It is in the interest of both the countries to think about accepting the Line of Control as the solution to the Kashmir issue.”
Mr Hussain demanded that people at the helm of affairs should take immediate steps to open the Khokhrapar border with India ”because millions of people from Sindh have to travel long distance through Wahga to meet their relatives in India”.
He said that Pakistan was going through testing times. “The geo-political reality of Pakistan is that it is isolated in South Asia. In case of a problem, no country will come to our rescue.”
He said that European countries had fought two world wars but they had now learnt their lesson and decided to resolve all their differences through dialogue and negotiations. “Today they stand united in the form of the European Union. However, through emotional slogans we are taught to hate and to go to war. For the past 56 years, Mullahs, who made money out of politics, have hoodwinked the people through emotional slogans. They made money in the name of Kashmir and Afghanistan and on the pretext of Jihad hurled the children of others to massacres but never offered their services.”
Mr Hussain said: “When these religious leaders were raising emotional slogans on the Iraq issue, the MQM dispatched three tickets to Maulana Noorani, Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Maulana Fazlur Rehman, so that they should practise what they preach and form a human shield in Iraq. They responded by saying that they do not themselves go but persuade others for Jihad. Such elements are damaging the image of Pakistan.”
He said: “The Sindh Assembly unanimously rejected the Thal Canal project but the resolution of the representatives of Sindh was bulldozed and the work on Thal Canal commenced without giving due consideration to the aspirations and reservations of the people of Sindh. Such acts are not conducive to the concept of national unity and pluralism. The work on the Thal Canal must stop immediately. A round table conference of intellectuals, experts and representatives of political parties must be convened to thrash out the issue.”
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