HYDERABAD: Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan chief Dr Farooq Sattar has said state institutions should stop doubting loyalties of Moha­jirs and urged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to see how the quota system is being unconstitutionally implemented.

Speaking to journalists in Latifabad on Sunday evening before chairing a meeting of the party’s office-bearers and parliamentarians from Hydera­bad and Mirpurkhas districts, Mr Sattar claimed that MQM’s vote bank was intact even after the Aug 22 episode, a reference to the party’s foun­der Altaf Hussain’s anti-Pakistan remarks.

He said mayoral elections had proved that 100 per cent MQM votes were polled. He said the anti-Pakistan slogan had been rejected with full force, but it was an irony that those raising the Pakistan Zindabad slogan were not being acknowledged and their loyalties doubted. “They are as Pakistanis as anyone else can be.”

Mr Sattar said that tax-wise urban centres were contributing a lot and, therefore, they should be given their share accordingly. He said the federal government had announced post-operations economic packages in Waziristan and other areas. “Where is the package for Karachi and Hydera­bad?” he asked and said the MQM had never objected to operations.

‘MQM’s vote bank is intact even after the Aug 22 episode’

He said that issues of sewerage, drainage and sanitation in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Mirpurkhas and Nawabshah should be resolved immediately.

He alleged that the MQM was being subjected to media trial, an artificial leadership thrust on people and the party was being pushed to the wall, while the issues it raised remain unresolved. “The APMSO and MQM were formed to protect self-respect of Mohajirs and help them get their rights with dignity. These are their rights, and not concessions or alms,” he said, adding that the MQM-Pakistan had demonstrated its responsibility after the Aug 22 event so that every Mohajir was not considered anti-Pakistan and the Aug 23 step was taken by the party’s leadership in the country, followed by a resolution in National Assembly.

“Mohajirs are still looking for their identity,” he said.

He asserted that the quota system should be discussed after it was raised in the apex committee.

Mr Sattar said the MQM was not demanding jobs for its workers, but for the residents of urban centres. Even the Sindh High Court chief justice had to observe that Rs91 billion was spent in Larkana but without any qualitative development, he said, adding that Sindhi middle class should now come forward.

He said the quota system’s term had expired and it was being unconstitutionally implemented. “PM should see how it is still being followed. These questions should be answered as soon possible for the country’s integrity,” he said, adding that the quota system benefited landlords in 90pc cases, instead of urban youth regardless of mother tongue.

Mr Sattar announced that elected MQM representatives would cleanse cities of offal and garbage during Eidul Azha holidays instead of collecting hides. “It is our test.”

He alleged that MQM’s parliamentarians were still receiving threatening calls to quit the party. He sarcastically told a journalist: “Perhaps people want referendum whether the MQM and Mohajirs are still in romance with Altaf Hussain.”

On the occasion, Khawaja Izharul Hassan said that artificial leadership could not be thrust on the people of Hyderabad through raids and arrests of party activists.

He condemned the razing of MQM offices and ‘loot of personal goods’ from these offices by the government. “Goods include MQM’s letterheads and if these are misused, deputy commissioners and the Sindh chief minister will be held responsible,” he said. If offices were to be demolished then procedural requirements of magisterial supervision should be followed, he said.

He said the whereabouts of ex-MQM Hyderabad zonal in charge Mohammad Sharif and coordination committee member Javed Kazmi remained unknown. “We have taken some decision, but it appears ‘some other people’ have to take some decision even after the passage of 20 days.”

Mr Hassan said there was a big question mark on the performance of law enforcement agencies in view of these disappearances. He rejected charges against the MQM activists and said these were levelled to force them to join other parties. “Interestingly, party workers who are wanted here [MQM] become beloved there [an oblique reference to the Pak Sarzameen Party],” he said.

He said the media didn’t investigate why only people with one ethnic background were disappearing. “We have come a long way after Aug 22, but media hasn’t moved from that point since then,” he regretted.

Published in Dawn September 12th, 2016