KARACHI, Aug 20: Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain offered an olive branch on Saturday to rival parties, including the People’s Party Parliamentarians and the Jamaat-i-Islami, asking them to bury the hatchet and join hands for the glory of Sindh and Pakistan

“Let’s forget the past, overlook all our bitterness and rancour and work together to help solve the problems which the people of the country have been facing for the past 58 years,” he said, directing his party’s workers to avoid passing remarks against rivals.

Speaking at a general workers’ meeting of his party at Jinnah Ground, he said the MQM wanted to write a new chapter of cooperation and national solidarity.

He asked his party cadres to avoid criticizing opponents and said he wanted to build a new atmosphere of national consensus in which political parties could stick to their ideologies and principles and yet join hands for the larger interest of the downtrodden and oppressed classes.

It was the duty of the political parties to sink their differences and work together for the glory of the country, he said.

He said the MQM was inviting everyone, including religious organizations, to work for the development of Karachi, Sindh and Pakistan.

He paid tribute to the Sindh administration for working to maintain peace and tranquillity in the province.

He asked the Sindh governor and chief minister to introduce legislation to combat car and telephone snatching.