KARACHI, June 7: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement was struggling to establish a system free of racial, ethnic and religious biases in the country, said its chief on Sunday.

Talking in his party's international secretariat to Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, the Sindh Minister for Services and Works, Altaf Hussein said justice and equity should be ensured for every citizen, as it helped raise a unified and strong nation that was bound to make progress.

He observed that if different constituent units of a country were subjected to discrimination and not given their due rights, then the generation of positive sentiments among the people who were discriminated against should not be expected.

The countries, where all its peoples were treated equally, did not break up, said the chief of Muttahida Qaumi Movement. "Equality does not promote division but, rather, goodwill and progress."

Mr Hussein was of the view that Urdu- and Sindhi-speaking people were made to stand against each other as a result of a conspiracy, but with the blessing of God the misunderstandings between the permanent residents of the province had now been removed.

He said Sindhi should be promoted and students taking various examinations should be allowed to write their scripts in this language. "The Sindhi language should also be introduced in Sindh along with Urdu and the Sindhi-speaking students be allowed to opt for their mother tongue during the examinations," he said.

Mr Hussein said the provincial government should pay special attention to resolving the common problems being faced by the people. Dr Arbab presented a Sindhi cap, Ajrak and other gifts to Mr Hussain, added the press release which was issued on Monday.

Dr Arbab had visited the Muttahida's international secretariat on Sunday to enquire about Mr Hussein's health and to express his good wishes. He was introduced to the members of the party's coordination committee.

In the meantime, the coordination committee of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement has congratulated the governor of Sindh for making the peace rally of June 6 a success. The large participation of people in the rally had proved that people were against all sorts of terrorism.

PARLIAMENTARIANS: In a joint statement, Muttahida members of the Sindh Assembly criticized the Jamaat-i-Islami and Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal for "blowing out of proportion" the issue of law and order situation in Karachi.