December 22, 2006	Friday	Ziqa'ad 30, 1427

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LARKANA, Dec 21: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain said on Thursday that he saw establishment’s hand behind 1988’s riots. The establishment bought off and planted Urdu speaking intellectuals to keep fanning the fire, he added.

Addressing party workers at Abdul Latif Nizamani Labour hall by phone from London he recalled his meetings with G M Syed in Sann who he said used to appreciate and encourage him.

He said that Khan Ghaffar Khan and G M Syed had firm belief in ‘non-violence’ and they never advocated a politics of clashes. What harm would come to Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) if the city district government brought 8,000 CNG buses on the roads of Karachi, he said, adding that the buses would not only help ease existing transport problems but would also prove environment-friendly.

Mr Hussain accused JI of being hand in glove with the establishment to reignite rivalry between Mohajirs and Pakhtoons. December 15 strike in Karachi was a result of conspiracy by establishment, he charged.

He said that the feudal lord culture prevalent in the interior of Sindh was preventing investment and regretted that the people who stood with late Z A Bhutto when he was in power had silently slipped away after he was hanged.

MUMTAZ BHUTTO: Sindh National Front Chairman Mumtaz Ali Bhutto said on Thursday that ‘Waderas’, ‘traitor-feudals’ and ‘betrayer-bureaucrats’ could never be sincere with their land.

Addressing gatherings in Madeji and Khuda Bakhsh Brohi village on Thursday he remarked: “When I talked of people’s rights, I was ousted from PPP, but I am still stuck to my guns.”

Thieves and robbers in league with a ‘terrorist organisation’ were ruling Sindh under the patronage of Gen Musharraf, he said, adding that they had banned Sindhis’ entry in services, hospitals and education institutions in Karachi.

He alleged that former Shikarpur district government had siphoned off Rs5 billion and made no development work in the district.