KARACHI: In the wake of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) ‘Azadi march’ on the federal capital, scheduled for August 14, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain Wednesday advised the rulers to show restraint and deal with the situation with amicable consensus instead of threats and warnings.

Speaking to members of Rabita Committee and the party’s lawmakers over telephone from London, he said the country was going through political turmoil and the rulers should try to resolve the situation by dialogue.

The statement comes in the backdrop of Imran Khan's PTI gearing up for its Aug 14 ‘million’ march in Islamabad in protest of electoral rigging in the 2013 general elections and to press for electoral reforms.

The MQM chief said that everyone has the right to protest. He, however, added that this right should be exercised within the ambit of law and Constitution.

Referring to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Altaf Hussain said that those who used to stage sit-ins and marches themselves were now advocating against protest demonstrations after coming into power.

He said becoming a lawmaker was not the right of feudal landlords and their heirs only.

“Those against local government system are in fact enemies of democracy, public and the country,” said the MQM chief, adding that his party has been fighting for a ‘real democratic system’ in the country for the last 35 years.