26 February 2004	Thursday	05 Muharram 1425

KARACHI, Feb 25: Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain on Wednesday emphasised the need for taking decisions on the basis of realism. He was addressing Ulema in an interactive telephonic dialogue at Lal Qila ground in Azizabad during which he emphasised that all national and international problems should be tackled according to his philosophy.

Mr Hussain said that his party was striving for unity among the Muslims and stressed that by following the path of the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) we could achieve success.

The MQM chief said that it would be prudent, realistic to first conserve energy and then augment it before confronting the enemy. One has to be patient, he said, adding that conveying such a message to the people was a difficult job.

He said that today people were confronting each other owing to differences in religious belief and fiqah and pointed out that in the past no one called the other a Kafir or killed the follower of another sect.

He regretted that despite fragmentation of the country people had not learnt lesson and were still fighting on flimsy matters. He also criticised the religious parties for first opposing the creation of Pakistan and after that exploiting sentiments of the people and pitting them against each other in the name of religion and sect. Misleading people in the name of Jihad.

He urged ulema to carry forward the movement of MQM. Mr Hussain was assured of support of the Ulema in his crusade by Furqan Haider Abdi while lauding MQM's struggle for creating religious tolerance and harmony.

Allama Jilani Chandpuri, Maulana Tanveerul Haq Thanvi , Maulana Hassan Zafar, Dr Zameer Naqvi, Maulana Naseem Ahmad, Maulana Irshadul Haq Thanvi also expressed similar views.