KARACHI, Sept 21: The London-based chief of Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Altaf Hussain, has said that nuclear or other conventional military power alone cannot guarantee integrity of Pakistan unless every citizen is treated equally and the rights of all the federating units are respected.

He said this while addressing party activists who had gathered in London to celebrate his 50th birthday.

He referred to the former Soviet Union which could not remain united despite being a nuclear power. Similarly Pakistan could also become united if rights of all the people were respected, he said.

Referring to the prevalent political system in Pakistan Mr Hussain said that a few families of the feudal and moneyed people, including the Generals, had been calling shots. Their legacy continued as 98 per cent of the down-trodden remained without the basic needs, he said.

Mr Hussain was critical of the dual system of education in the country, one of which, he said, was to cater to the needs of the privileged class through English medium and English legacy schools whereas 98 per cent of the people of Pakistan were condemned to rot in government schools or colleges, where there were hardly any facilities.

Mr Hussain called for removing this distortion by finishing the dual system. He said that if the rich wanted to send their children to high-cost English medium institutions, they might do so but at the same time the government should also provide similar facilities to the 98 per cent people who could not afford to send their children to good schools. There should a level playing field for every one and this apartheid should come to an end, he said, adding that double standards were responsible for the country’s fragmentation.

Referring to the geo-political situation of the country, Mr Hussain noted that Pakistan’s relations with India, Afghanistan and Iran were not good and the country was passing through great economic difficulties and had to bank on the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. He said that if foreign aid was stopped then it would not be possible for the government to manage the affairs of the country.

He called for banishing sectarian, ethnic, religious and other hatred to make Pakistan strong and united.

The MQM chief said Kalabagh Dam, Bhasha dam and the Greater Thal Canal should not be built without a national consensus.

He called upon Pakistanis living in all parts of the world to play their role in making Pakistan a united and strong country.

He once again called upon leaders of India and Pakistan to accept each other’s reality and establish friendly and good neighbourly relations by promoting bilateral trade and people to people contact.

Mr Hussain also advocated the Pakistan-first principle in foreign policy and said that we should maintain principled support to the cause of the people of Kashmir, Palestine and Iraq but should not interfere in their affairs.

Mr Hussain again flayed religious parties and said that on the one hand their leaders criticized the West and asked the people to wage Jihad against them and on the other hand they sent their children to get educated in the same country. In this context, he mentioned Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Maulana Fazalur Rahman and Maulana Noorani.

He said that these leaders were not prepared to accept Gen Pervez Musharraf as President in uniform but in the past they had been rubbing shoulders with Gen Ziaul Haq.

Mr Hussain paid tribute to his activists who remained steadfast despite difficulties.