KARACHI: Lashing out at ‘military establishment’ of Pakistan for persisting prejudice against Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) within its ranks, Altaf Hussain on Saturday night sought answers of the 14 questions he posed to the army chief a couple of days ago.
Speaking to a general workers meeting at MQM’s headquarters ‘Nine-Zero’ via video-link form London, he said the armed forces, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Military Intelligence (MI) or Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) should respond to his 14 queries.
Hussain said ISI’s new nominated director general, Lt-Gen Rizwan Akhtar had alleged that MQM workers from South Africa carry out targeted killings in Karachi. “I told him to arrest such workers at the airport or shoot them on the spot,” he added.
The MQM chief claimed that people belonging to ‘establishment’ had told American authorities at the US Consulate that his party was behind the killings of Allama Abbas Kumaili’s son and Mufti Naeem’s son-in-law. “This is absolutely absurd,” he remarked.
He, yet again, offered to resign from the party’s leadership, which was amicably denied by the workers.
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Criticising the military leadership, Altaf Hussain said that dictators imposed martial laws with the help of armed forces, however, no one dared to eradicate feudalism from the country.
Hussain said he does not want to divide the Sindh province. However, he added that countries or areas do not get divided by creating new administrative units or provinces. “By creating South Sindh, North Sindh, East Sindh and West Sindh, the Sindh province would not be divided.”
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He also criticised the quota system enforced by former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of PPP in 1970. “Quota system was imposed for 10 years, but it still has not been revoked,” he added.
The MQM chief also flayed veteran Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah, saying: “He is our elder, however, he does not know what he is doing.”
He claimed that PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has appointed Shah to follow his orders without any hesitation. “I supported Asif Zardari unconditionally for five years, but he did not accept my demands for the betterment of Karachi,” he said.
