HYDERABAD: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) organised a rally outside the local press club on Monday against Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah for terming ‘Mohajir’ a swear word.

Speaking to the participants, MQM coordination committee member MPA Abdul Haseeb, MNA Wasim Hussain, Ghazi Salahuddin, Naveed Shamsi and others noted that Mr Shah repeated his viewpoint four times.

“By giving such a statement, Khursheed Shah has joined the company of Salman Rushdie and Tasleema Nasreen. The MQM has moved a court of law and was awaiting its verdict. If the court doesn’t decide the case, people will decide it,” MPA Haseeb said, adding that Khursheed Shah would not find any place to hide.

He advised the PPP leader to get an apology published in newspapers and rid himself of the issue.

He also criticised PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari for making a statement against the MQM chief that he would ruin Altaf Hussain’s life, and alluded to the Kashmiris million march in London where Mr Bhutto-Zardari was not allowed by PTI activists to speak.

MNA Wasim Hussain said that the logical end of the controversy triggered by Khursheed Shah’s remarks against Mohajirs would be the creation of a Mohajir province. If Mohajirs were denied their own province, they would snatch it, he said.

Ghazi Salahuddin said that although Khursheed Shah had tendered his apology, he should instead seek forgiveness from Almighty Allah and the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him).

He said that the PPP government was creating a sense of deprivation among the Urdu-speaking community.

He claimed that it was (former senior minister for education) Pir Mazharul Haq who had whispered to then prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf at the Govt College Hyderabad telling him not to announce the establish­ment of a university in Hyderabad.

He said if the Urdu-speaking community was pushed against the wall, the slogan of a Mohajir province was bound to be raised.

MIRPURKHAS: MQM workers led by its coordination committee member Ashfaq Mangi, Mujeebul Haq and Aftab Soomro held a demonstration outside the local press club on Monday to condemn Khursheed Shah’s remarks against Mohajirs.

Carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans for a Mohajir province, the participants raised slogans against the PPP leader and vowed to continue the struggle for a new province till success.

Mr Mangi described the PPP as the party of feudal lords and said it was protecting their interests.

He said the Sindhi people had now rejected the PPP.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2014