April 04, 2008	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 26, 1429

HYDERABAD, April 3: Sindh Tarraqi Passand (STP) chairman Dr Qadir Magsi has criticised PPP leaders for visiting the Muttahida Qaumi Movement headquarters on Wednesday night and said: “Benazir Bhutto was physically murdered in Rawalpindi but her soul was murdered in Azizabad.”

He was particularly hard on PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari for apologising to the MQM forgiving it on behalf of the people of Sindh and said that Sindhis had done nothing which required him to adopt such a stand.

Addressing a press conference at the Tarraqi Passand House here on Thursday, Mr Magsi said the PPP co-chairman visited the MQM headquarters to discuss a power-sharing formula in Sindh.

Besides launching a vitriolic attack on the MQM, the STP chairman accused Mr Zardari and the PPP leadership of trying to placate the MQM into joining the PPP-led coalition government.

He said that people who had struggled against the removal of judges were told that excesses of the past eight years would be done away with.

Referring to the All Party Conference held in London in July 2007, he said it envisaged an end to vindictive politics and heralded the dawn of an era of genuine democracy.

He said that the APC’s document signed by the PPP and PML-N described the MQM as a terrorist organisation and said that no party would enter into an alliance with it for forming a coalition government.

He said that the APDM had decided that without a decisive struggle against the establishment it would not be possible to restore true adding that Benazir Bhutto had sacrificed her life in the struggle. He said that the present situation had vindicated APDM’s stand.

Deploring PPP leadership’s visit to Azizabad, he said: “The people of Sindh voted for the PPP and defeated the Jatois, Arbabs and Shirazis. But by visiting Nine Zero, the PPP hierarchy had lost the battle it had

won with the blood of

Benazir Bhutto”.

He said that the STP had demanded the prime minister should be from Sindh because it expected that its grievances would be redressed. But it was not done and the post was given to Punjab. “Now tell me which party other than the PPP could give the prime ministerial post to Sindh?”, he asked.

He said that despite having a majority it did not get a prime minister from Sindh and only two insignificant ministries had been allotted to the province.

He also criticised the PPP’s decision to make Dr Fahmida Mirza the Speaker of the National Assembly and said it was meant to appease the people of Sindh.

He was also critical of Rehman Malik’s appointment as adviser to prime minister for interior. “People who are wanted by international police (Interpol) are being thrust on us”, he said.

He demanded appointment of a commission headed by Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry to investigate the May 12, October 18 and Nishtar Park tragedies and said that if the commission exonerated the MQM from all charges it could be inducted into the coalition government as a partner.

But, he said, until then the MQM should not be given ministries and governorship. He warned that if the MQM was taken into the government now the STP would oppose it with all its strength. He called upon Mr Zardari to disclose details of the PPP-MQM agreement for power sharing.

He also asked Mr Zardari to explain who had authorised him to apologise to the MQM and seek forgiveness from it on behalf of the PPP. “Zardari could go to 90 in his personal capacity but the mandate given to the PPP should not be made a laughing stock.” He said he would also like to know that for how long Islamabad and Asif Zardari would keep sacrificing principles by calling Karachi the economic hub. “We do not need these multi-national companies and they may be shifted to Islamabad or Punjab but this blackmail must be stopped”, he said.