July 20, 2008	Sunday	Rajab 16, 1429

KARACHI, July 19: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain has urged the government to immediately convene an All Parties Conference (APC) for building national consensus for dealing with political and economic crises and the “threat of Talibanisation of society”.

In a statement issued on Saturday, Mr Hussain also asked the government to convene meetings of all chambers of commerce and small investors to cope with the stock market crisis.

Presiding over a meeting of the party’s coordination committee in London, he expressed concern over situation in the wake of an ultimatum given by the Taliban to the NWFP government and the crash of stock market. He said the government’s measures to deal with the crises were not visible to the common man.

Mr Hussain observed that such a situation called for national unity and asked the government to invite all political and religious parties to the proposed APC for adopting a joint strategy to counter the challenge.