HYDERABAD, Aug 22: Muttahida Qaumi Movement Chief Altaf Hussain has said that the MQM rejects the Hasba Bill because extremist Ulema from tribal areas want to impose it in Hyderabad and Karachi.

He was addressing on telephone from London a public meeting at the Pucca Qilla on Sunday.

He said the people of Hyderabad would give a better verdict than the one given by the people of Karachi on Aug 25.

He said the religious leaders issued edicts, declaring each other infidels though no such thing was enshrined in the Holy Quran or Hadith.

He said the Hasba bill aimed at curbing women’s movement and denying them their right to education and employment.

He accused Ulema of misinterpreting the Quranic verses and that they were bringing a bad name to Islam.

Lashing out at the masterminds behind the killing of innocent faithful in Imam Bargahs and mosques, he said these people could not be Muslim as they had deviated from the teachings of Islam.

He said the MQM’s programme was based on true teachings of Islam as it was advocating equal opportunities of education and health facilities for all in the society without discrimination as well as full rights for women.

On the contrary, he said extremists wanted to confine women to homes and deprive them of their right to education and jobs.

He said daughters and sisters of Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani, Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Maulana Fazalur Rehman were not only sitting with men in assemblies bur drawing salaries as well.

He criticized Ulema for breaking TV and radio sets which were modern inventions and referred to the Taliban era of Afghanistan where they did the same thing but later gave interviews to TV and radio correspondents.

He asserted that Ulema had misguided youth and incited them to violence but now they were planning to curb women’s liberty.

He said the MQM believed in Shariah of Holy Prophet (PBUH) while it rejected extremism-based teachings of Islam given by Ulema of tribal areas who were inspired by tribal customs.

He said Holy Prophet (PBUH) never talked about destroying religious places of other’s because Islam did not permit use of force against any individual or group of people.

He urged the people to vote for Haq Parast Group candidates who would emerge victorious in August 25 elections.

He asked party activists not to get emotional and exercise restraint regardless of the fact that they were reasons to get provoked.

He said 80 HPG nazims were elected in Sindh, 25 in Punjab and eight in NWFP in LB polls.

He said now Sindhi and Urdu speaking people were united to work for rights of Sindh.

He appealed to the Sindhis to vote for HPG candidates because Benazir Bhutto’s PPP had joined hands with Jamaat-e-Islami which had distributed sweets on hanging of late Z.A.Bhutto.

He reiterated that the MQM would eliminate feudalism and capitalism in Sindh.

The deputy convenor MQM’s coordination committee Dr Farooque Sattar, in-charge coordination committee Anwar Alam, joint in-charge Abdul Haseeb and zonal organizer Siraj Rajput also spoke on the occasion.