KARACHI, Nov 22: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain on Saturday called upon political and religious parties to jointly deliberate on measures for ending interference in democratic process, eradication of feudal system and for ensuring independence of judiciary, to overcome divisive trends and politics of acrimony.

Speaking at an Iftar party held for newsmen at Khurshid Memorial Hall, Mr Hussain proposed four-point agenda for achieving these objectives and said that the MQM would take initiative by organizing all parties conference in this connection.

Mr Hussain said that the country was faced with a crisis owing to rapidly changing international scenario. Therefore, it was imperative for all political and religious parties to jointly ponder over causes of economic and political crisis.

He urged the parties to let the political system, despite its flaws, continue because its failure would have grave consequences for the country.

He said that the issue of president’s uniform and role of military should be sorted out by the elected representatives in the parliament.

He lauded the role of print and electronic media in political awakening, however, he regretted that despite passage of more than fifty year we could not develop a stable and just system of governance.

He said we kept on experimenting with parliamentary system or presidential form, while military rule covers more than half of the period since independence. The civilian governments also could not play effective role, owing to which we were now lagging behind in many fields as compared to India and even Bangladesh, whose currency was stronger than ours, he said.

Mr Hussain said that at the time of independence Unionists and those fuedals and Nawabs who were loyal to the colonial masters dominated political power in the country, which proved fatal for national unity.

He said that owing to this situation ethno-lingual political particularism prevailed in the country, which was also due to unequal treatment meted out to the people.

He was of the view that one of the causes of this distortion was due to Pakistan’s preferences in foreign policy during the Cold War period.

He said that this situation could only be altered by a middle class rule for which the MQM was struggling.

Deploring joblessness among Sindhi youth, Mr Hussain said that Islam does not allow any discrimination. He said that a policy of discrimination was causing sense of alienation among the people.

When he was asked why his party was sitting in the government with the feudals, whom he had termed a cause of Pakistan’s backwardness, Mr Hussain said it was MQM’s dilemma in the present political scenario. However, he expressed hope that MQM was trying to create awakening and soon such compromises would not be required.

Replying to a question about action against jihadi outfits, Mr Hsssain said if they had any grievance, they should approach the judiciary.

He reiterated MQM’s commitment to Sindh Assembly resolutions on Kalabagh dam and the Greater Thal canal but said that at the moment the country needed cohesion and internal peace.

Regarding his reported planed visit to India, Mr Hussein said when the party would get a formal invitation and his visit would be finalized then he would certainly try to take up matters that could promote confidence building measures between the two countries.