October 05, 2008	Sunday	Shawwal 05, 1429

LONDON, Oct 4: MQM chief Altaf Hussain has made an impassioned appeal to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to forget and forgive and join hands with the PPP-led coalition government to steer the ship of the nation out of troubled waters.

Speaking at a function to celebrate his 55th birth day on Friday, Mr Hussain warned that Pakistan was on the verge of disintegration and that only a unified national stand could save it from the twin challenge of economy and terrorism.

He said it was only through unity that Pakistan could persuade its western friends and the US to desist from violating the country’s sovereignty.

He was critical of statements urging the government to cut off routes carrying supplies for US-led troops in Afghanistan, warning that such a move would bring Islamabad into a direct confrontation with Washington.

He said all political forces in the country and institutions should strengthen the hands of Asif Ali Zardari whom he described as the democratically elected president of Pakistan.

He asked the media not to mislead the nation by projecting the administration’s efforts to establish the writ of the government in the tribal region as America’s proxy war against Islam.

He rejected the notion that the Taliban were waging a jihad to save Islam from being obliterated by the West and the US.

He cautioned Pakistani Britons against spreading and supporting hate campaigns against other religions, pointing out that had it not been for the religious freedom allowed by the UK, they would not have been able to practice their religion here.

He recalled that the newly independent East African countries had expelled without a second thought Indians settled there for over two centuries and said: “You are here only for the last 60 or 50 years, so be warned.”

Sindh minister Pir Mazharul Haq echoed Mr Hussain’s sentiments on unity and agreed with him that a united nation could fight any challenge.

Pakistan’s High Commissioner to the UK Wajid Shamsul Hasan and Dr Asim Hussain, chief of the National Reconstruction Bureau, also attended the function.