SUKKUR: Leader of the Oppo­sition in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah has said that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement has distanced itself from its leader Altaf Hussain due to his poor health and mental condition.

He said that now Dr Farooq Sattar was running MQM affairs from Pakistan, therefore “we must listen to whatever he is saying”. The position of the party would become clear in a week or so, he added.

Talking to reporters after inspection of an under-construction road here on Saturday, Mr Shah said that the people of Pakistan had come up with a strong reaction against those who had recently raised anti-Pakistan slogans in Karachi.

As a result they are now shouting the slogan of ‘Long Live Pakistan’.

He said that Pakistan had a strong stance on Kashmir and that was why “India is playing a game and fomenting unrest in Karachi and Balochistan by using Brahamdagh Bugti and others”.

He said the armed forces were fighting terrorism for the sake of the country and its people and had the support of the world in the fight.

Earlier, during the inspection of the under-construction Qureshi Road in the Golimar area, Mr Shah expressed his anger over non-completion of work despite payment made to the contractor.

He said that lack of cleanliness was a major problem of Sukkur, adding that he would ask Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to solve the problem.

He said that work on the Sukkur Sports Complex would be completed soon while construction of different roads was under way in the city.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2016