KARACHI, Feb 21: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain has said that provinces should be given the status of 'states' as is the case in the United States. The federal government, he added, should retain defence, currency and foreign policy only.

Addressing party activists telephonically at Carlton Hotel from London late Friday, he proposed that representatives of the 'states' should have a role in formulating foreign policy.

Altaf Hussain also demanded of the government to establish tax-free zones in Sindh to encourage investment and setting up of industrial units. He also demanded that Sindh, which generates 70 per cent of national revenue, must get that much share from the federal government.

A strong Pakistan is possible only if rights of all the federating units are respected thereby strengthening cultural pluralism, he declared, adding that a powerful and oppressive federation would weaken the country and undermine its religious and ethnic harmony.

According to him, this is in the context of the ongoing Centre-province tussle over the distribution of resources and revenues, that has generated a lot of mistrust and alienation among the people and the provinces, be that on water issue or on empowerment.

Mr Hussain castigated the oppressive feudalism in Pakistan and regretted that rulers, who never hesitated to undo the Constitution, could not act against this menace which had been haunting the poor people.

"Many a times our Constitution has been trampled down but the cruel feudalism is intact and every government, whether democratically elected or a dictatorship, has been helpful to feudal lords and their parallel government has become even stronger," said Mr Hussain.

In theory, we have a well-documented Constitution, but in practice there is nothing," he lamented, indicating that "constitutionally, Pakistan has a complete judicial set-up, but feudal courts and jirgas have virtually crippled the system."

Claiming that the Constitution had ceased to have any relevance now, he asked: "What protection did this Constitution give to its own creators?"

The MQM chief also criticized religious parties and claimed they don not know the meaning of Islam. These parties, he alleged, were harping on the theme of Jihad in Kashmir and argued that disputes could be sorted out through dialogue. "We have lost our eastern wing, but our religious leaders lack wisdom and are chanting slogans of waving Pakistan's flag in the occupied Kashmir. It is not a balanced approach," he said.

Mr Hussain condemned attacks on girls schools in the NWFP and said that it was not only shameful but also against Shariah. He contended that those who opposed rights and education for women should not forget that about 25 per cent of Hadiths are attributed to Hazrat Ayesha. He was also critical of PPP and PML-N claiming that their policies had lost relevance to the problems being faced by the people.

Altaf Hussain said although he was out of the country, he was speaking strongly for the people unlike Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. "My party will forget all its differences with the PPP and PML-N if Ms Bhutto and Mr Sharif spoke for the rights of people like me only once."

He asserted his point of view that no language could be imposed on the people having a different linguistic and cultural background. He demanded of the government to allow the four federating units to adopt their own languages in educational institutions and in running their administrative business.

He said that Urdu was given the status of national language but it was not necessary to make it a sole medium for the people of all the four provinces. "We believe that Pakistan was created for Muslims of the subcontinent, then its national language must have been Arabic, the language of Holy Quran. But it is not possible. It is just not possible in practical terms," Altaf Hussain declared.